Medical Bills Sent to Collection Agency Making Threats – Settle Debt or Pay What I can Afford?

Medical Bills Sent to Collection Agency Making Threats – Settle Debt or Pay What I can Afford?

A few years back, I had a hernia surgery. My parents paid for part of the procedure, and the hospital was able to cover the cost of the operating room with their indigent fund. However, a previous E.R. visit generated a bill for a little over $600.

I have been getting a lot of these calls regarding it, with a recording "Is this" (different voice) "John C.." (different voice) "If so, press one". I had gotten some previously, and stayed on the line long enough to explain that I had been working on creative projects and doing odd jobs, and I had no significant assets. Then, the debt got passed to a Franklin Collection Agency. The guy sounded friendly enough, but he says that if I just start paying what I'd prefer to, the debt will go to their legal department, and I'd have to pay an additional $200 in court costs.

Allowing the case to go forward isn't completely out of the question, since a wage garnishment would affect me only when things were going well enough to have a wage (they are also helping me get some dental work done); but I'd prefer to pay e.g. $50/month. They say that if I don't give them an account with automatic withdrawal, and agree to give them ~$164, or pay ~$219 with a non-automatic withdrawal account, that it will not prevent them from sending me a summons, and, the fellow said, "Frankly, I don't know why you haven't gotten one already."

I may be able to scrape one of these amounts together, but I'd really like some advice on if the guy with Franklin is telling it straight, and what are the pros and cons of either 1) paying it like they want, 2) just paying, say $50/month anyway, or 3) not paying it. It seemed like a last-minute ambush for money TODAY, but maybe or maybe not how they are proceeding is normal, and I should just cough up badly needed money. He says "the bank" is unwilling to accept a settlement.

Should I go to court, can I get a public defender, and are my odds good at getting a 60% settlement?

What do I do about medical debt and the collection agency saying summons is overdue?

—John C.

When a debt collector tells you that your being sued is long overdue, take it with a grain of salt. It is not that they cannot or will not sue. I would need a whole lot more information in order to offer feedback about the risk of that happening to you. But collectors are trained to press your emotional and stress buttons in order to get paid. Making reference to being sued is rather effective.

Settling medical debt is often different than negotiation credit card bills that went unpaid.

medicalYou mentioned he said “the bank” and used quotes. The debt collector you spoke with probably also collects on bank debts, not just medical bills. I would not read too much into that other than, here is an example of a guy following his script and routine in order to get some form of payment – which accents my point about his reference to a summons being over due.

Negotiating a lower payoff and settling medical debt is often done at higher rates. In other words, you do not save as much. The lower the medical debt, the more the principles I laid out in this article apply: https://consumerrecoverynetwork.com/credit-card-debt-to-include-in-settlement-plan

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If you are unable to make payments as high as the debt collector is requesting; if sending smaller payments (that are not agreed to in advance) does not prevent a summons; if you already are preparing yourself mentally and financially to settle at 60% – Save up the money as fast as you are able and settle the medical bill rather than make payments.

I think you can settle this for close to 60%. When you are ready with the money, come back and review the debt settlement section of our fee online debt relief system. Post questions on this page and get feedback.

Any questions or concerns you have after reading my feedback can be posted in the comments below. All readers concerned about dealing with medical debt in collections can post below and receive feedback.

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About Michael Bovee

Michael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry, and is a regular contributor to several personal finance websites.

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    • What is the balance owed? How much were you sending in each month and for how long? When were you served? How much money can you pull together to offer as a settlement?

  2. Hey Michael I am having seizures and that I have to go to the hospital a
    a few times and they charged me a out standing bill that I tried to send
    10:00 dollars a month and I have other bills and doctors to go and by
    Medication and rent and food and I am on disability can the hospital
    take that !!

  3. Hi Michael,

    My daughter has no medical insurance, and she was hit by a truck while riding her bicycle home from work one evening. The man took off before any information was exchanged. He hit her hard enough that he knocked her out of her shoes. To make a long story short, she wound up haveing a broken hand that required surgery. She had to have pins put in and the whole healing process took about 2-3 months. She was able to get a non-profit organization to help with the cost of the surgery, however, she had a few medical bills that did not get paid. A couple of them are working with her on payments, but a few of them will not even budge on what they want from her as far as a payment. My question is can they refuse to take any payment as long as one is trying to get made, and can they turn her over to collection even though she is making said payment?

    • They can refuse payment arrangements, and medical bills are regularly turned over to collections even when you are sending in what you can.

      There are situations where it is easier to work with a debt collector than the billing company or office.

  4. I have had 800+ credit scores my whole adult life (age64). I pay my bills and am lucky to have great employer health insurance.

    Yesterday out of the blue, I get a letter from Phoenix Financial Credit saying they are collecting for a 2013 ER visit to a FL hospital in the amount of $ 1,200.

    I called Cigna (their online records don’t go back that far). Cigna has records of paying the hospital a lot of money for that ER visit. I had a $100 copay. When talking with Cigna the name on the bill is slightly different from the Hospital name and she wondered if it is a separate ER group practice that turned this over to collection. Again, I NEVER SAW A BILL FOR THIS BEFORE and NEITHER HAS CIGNA….4 years ago!

    Cigna said they’ll send me the EOB for that ER visit but IF it’s a separate entity that did not send them a bill in a timely manner, they won’t pay it now. I asked Cigna if I should contact the Hospital or the collection agency but she advised to just send them the EOB that they are sending me back to them with their dunning letter.

    I’m a nut about my good credit and seeing today that this is on my Credit Report is stressing me out.

    IF this ‘entity’ had billed Cigna timely (they had my insurance card).. Cigna would have paid it, other than my $50 copay.

    How should I proceed…just send them the EOB as Cigna suggests?? Or should I go over to the Hospital and talk to them (though if this is a separate ER practice, I doubt they have billing people there)?

    • I would follow the advice from Cigna if it were me, and see where things go from there. POst an update, and if you still need to address the bill and the credit reporting, I will suggest filing a debt collection complaint with the CFPB and some other options too.

      • Here’s an update. I did some googling and found that in FL it has been illegal since 2000 for medical providers (and their billing agents) to bill HMO subscribers for balance billing. And since 2016, it’s illegal to bill PPO subscribers for balance billing. I contacted the FL Office of Financial Regulation and they confirmed this. I faxed (and mailed) this info to the collection agency and will let you know their response. I also filed a complaint against Phoenix Financial with the same regulatory board.

  5. I have a hospital that is trying to sue me for a bill i am unaware of from 2008. They said if i was working they would garnish my wages. And since im not and im married they can take my husbands ssi and his truck.. Is this true? His ssi is what we live off of. And his truck he had it before we got married.

  6. Hello Michael,

    I have a charge off from almost three years ago with ARS. It is a medical debt and I am trying to rebuild my credit. The total is $596.00 and I a wondering what your advice would be.

    Thank you in advance,
    Jud Hoffman

  7. My son, 34, lives in Colorado. Recently, he was served with a Summons on a 5-year old medical bill.. It was served on him by a collection agency. His court date is February 9th.

    We called the hospital, where he was seen, to see if his Medicaid was in place then, or if the hospital could help him apply for the Colorado Indigent Care Program (CICP).

    Medicaid confirms that he was not covered, and say they can do nothing else.

    I spoke to Big Thompson ER Physicians, the original debtor, to see if they knew where my son could get some help paying this bill The guy wasn’t very nice, and I quickly deduced that I was wasting my time.

    I called the collection agency, Wakefield & Associates, and talked to them to see if they knew where he might get help They were nice, but they asked if my son could pay the bill, and gave me a final amount if he paid the bill in full right then. The bill was $300.00 more than the bill I am holding in my hand is.

    I even called 211, The Salvation Army. They searched their database, but couldn’t find any help for my son, in our county.

    Lastly, I called and left a message at the finance office of our local hospital, instead of their corporate office. I’m waiting to hear back if they can help us with CICP, or some other form of help.

    If we can’t find some help, I guess we’re going to have to go to court. I don’t know what to say, other than to tell the truth — my son is indigent, has no car, no personal property, no bank account, no car, etc. He also does not have a job at the moment. He’s behind on child support and student loans, as well. He moved back in with me because he has no money. So all I can think to say to the judge, is what I just wrote.

    Obviously, he has no money for an attorney, either.

    Can you help us?

    • You are doing what you can to get indigent status, and are prepared to go to court. Those are the 2 things I would be doing, along with trying to come up with a way to negotiate a settlement, but that will take money your son does not have. He may be looking at negotiating a settlement on the judgment that may get entered in the court.

      What is the total balance owed?

          • I have no money to help him, otherwise, I would have just paid this bill so he could be done with it, and he could pay me back later. I am permanently disabled and on SSDI. I just barely scrape by each month, with my own monthly bills.

            I know they are going to get a judgment against him tomorrow; I’ve already prepared him for that. Now, I had to take someone to court, too, and I got a judgment, but that was only half the battle. The real battle came in trying to collect on that judgment.. He is very worried, and thinks they might put him in jail if he can’t pay on the spot. I have never heard of anyone going to jail because they couldn’t pay a judgment off the same day as court was held. Have you?

              • Well, we were not the only ones who were afraid of someone going to jail. Some of the other people were, too.

                Wakefield had the entire docket filled up, in both courtrooms. Then we were all told to sign up on a list. When my son’s name was called, we met with a lawyer for Wakefield! I guess everyone there met with a lawyer from Wakefield, which seemed odd.

                So, he told her the same things I told you. She asked him if he was covered by Medicaid or CICP, and he told her he didn’t know which one, but that he did think he was covered. So, she filed some sort of motion to postpone our hearing for two months, so we would have time to figure this out.

                That’s all that happened.

  8. I had to have my appendix removed in Oct 2015 i had not insurance – the bill was 37k – I tried to make payment arrangements with the hospital but they wanted 5 to 6 hundred per month (which I couldnt afford) the bill was sent to collection In October 2016 I made arrangements with the collection agency to pay $250/month. everything was fine for a few months. I would call and make a payment over the phone – I would ask if they could take the payment automatically but they would say no – they dont do that. last month in january I forgot to call and make the payment.

    I called today (2days late) and they told me that I defaulted on my payment plan that I now have to pay $30% of the debt to be able to make new arrangements
    that would be about $11k which I do not have.
    or to pay the whole thing whish is now 41k
    I said I cant!
    they said then they have to proceed with involuntary collection

    can someone help me? I live in WA Sstate

        • Secured debt is where the lender maintains a security interest in the property until it is paid in full. That would mean you could not sell or pass title until you paid them off. Common examples are homes, cars, boats, etc.

          Unsecured debts are typically medical debts, credit cards, unpaid collections from utility and other household bills.

  9. I’m being sued by an Amirata Surgical Associates in New Jersry from surgery I had 3 years ago. The balance is $831.11. I am currently unemployed and living back home with my parents and son. My father has been going through a rough time he just had cancer removed from his bladder and I am helping my mother take care if him and the house chores as well as raise my 14yr. old son. What are my best options.

    • I would try to raise the money needed to pay a settlement out of court. Sometimes it is a good idea to start of by defending the lawsuit to buy time to raise money.

      I would suggest talking with low income legal aid about any assistance they can provide.

  10. Hi December I went to the Emergency room because of a bad toothache nothing was really done other than my pressure was taken and 2 pain pills so a month later a got a bill for a little over 600
    And a phone call threatening to take me to court. Now I don’t mind paying the bill but does to pain pills and my blood pressure taking add up to 600? I am confuse about this can you shed some light on this for me
    Thank you.
    C.c

    • I sure wish I could tell you, in a way that makes sense, how a moment to take your blood pressure and 2 pain pills amounts to $600.

      Was any of this covered by insurance?

        • It can be easier to negotiate a lower lump sum pay off on medical bills when there was no insurance coverage paid out. You may want to try negotiating a settlement. Payment plans are an option in many cases too.

          I do see medical bills this small go to court.

  11. I really have a question. I have been given a court date for a hospital bill for 1,334 dollars, I have offered them 1 000 but they refused it and said 1,145 dollars they will settle for. I tried to make 20 dollar payments a month before being send to the lawyer and refused my payment from the beginning. I don’t make much and have 2 other hospital bills I am paying for.. I’m afraid the judge will make me pay it all and not not give me to the option to do monthly payments. Please any advise will help. Thank you

    • The judge is there to rule on whether you owe the debt, and not so much about what you can afford to pay each month. If they get a judgment they can garnish wages in most states, and levy a bank account. Having an agreed upon payment plan in place would prevent that from happening.

      You can look to set up that payment in or out of court.

      Do you have the 1k to pay in a lump sum?

  12. Is it legal for the hospital to take payments of 25 to 50 dollars a month then call you and tell you they need more then you tell them you can’t afford more … but they send papers to your job and get it took out of ur check every week this is BS ….

    • Service providers and lenders do not have to accept only what we can afford to send in as payment. They can sue to collect. If your check is being garnished that suggest your were sued, and with that, as allowed by state law, your paycheck can be garnished before you see it. But there are exemptions that may apply to you in your state. If you meet them, you could be partially of fully exempt. You have to formally contest the garnishment through the court.

  13. We have about $12,000 in medical debt from various providers resulting from a chronic illness and related hospital stay last year. Every bill has now been turned over to collection agencies. As we get the money to pay down the balances, can we send the money directly to the original care providers? I want to pay what we owe to the entities that provided the care.

    • You can. You will want to be sure they did not sell the debt. Unpaid medical debts are not sold the same way defaulted credit cards are, but it does happen.

      Paid medical on your credit reports does not carry the same weight it used to. What is the reason for avoiding the debt collectors?

  14. I have a pass due medical bill that went to a collection agency,.The original amount was 628.03, now the agency is trying to get 953.59. Am I obligated to pay that inflated rate? What are my options and will this effect my credit?

    • If it is on your credit reports now, paying it will likely improve your credit.

      Look to your original agreement with the service provider to determine if any fees and costs are something you agreed to.

  15. I need help working with intermountain health care here I Utah. My son was seen at this hospital that was out of network and I won the appeal with our insurance company. Needless to say my husband received the check that was made out to him cashed the check. We been separated for over 3 years so I was not aware of this he went back to Mexico with the money. And now my son has this huge bill and I’ve tried working out a payment plan and they just will not work with me. I don’t want to have my son be forced to file bankruptcy. Can you help us ?

  16. Hello Michael,
    I would appreciate your advice in my situation. I stayed in the hospital last year and total cost was ~$30,000. At that time I had a job and insurance. After insurance my portion was almost $5,700. At first I signed up for a payment plan and take time to research what I can do to lower the balance (I found some charges in the itemized bill that I was (and am still) not agree with). Then I lost my job and still unemployed. 6 months later I tried to negotiate with the hospital but it was not successful, they said there is no way they can lower the balance. I also tried to find out if I can apply for patient assistance program but turned out I am not eligible. The billing department doesn’t want to negotiate and reduce the balance because I had insurance. They also told me they can waive my coinsurance/deductible if the insurance company agrees to waive it. The insurance company said they can not do it. The only thing the billing department could do is to lower my monthly payments.
    Now, 6 more months later, I still owe $1,400 and I called again to lower monthly payments and was offered to do a settlement (pay in full – get 10% off), I needed some time to think and they offered 15% off, again I was not ready to decide now and they asked how much can pay, I said 50%, they said 20% is the maximum they can give me.
    I have a few question about my options:
    1) If I decide to do the settlement should I try to negotiate again to get a better offer, like 30% off? What is the best way to approach this?
    2) If I stop paying they will send my account to the collection agency. I was assured that they have an agreement with that agency that it won’t be reported to credit bureaus. Should I (is it safe) to trust them? What would you do in a situation like this?
    Thank you for your help!

    • Settling a medical debt with the set of circumstances you have is not common due to illegal discounting (I explain in the video embedded above). That suggest to me that there may be little wiggle room to get them to go any lower than they are willing to now.

      No, I would not trust any debt collector, and I am not all that likely to trust a medical billing service either. But paid medical debts do not harm your credit reports like they used to, so it is not something to get overly hung up on (but I would want to avoid it too).

      If it were me I would try like heck to get a better settlement outcome, where I save more money, but would also recognize the situation for what it is and understand that the discount may not get any better.

  17. i am from wisconsin and my husband had a heart attack and it all happened at at hospital that was out of network. the total bills have come to over $30,000.00. i have paid off about $12,000.00 as i had to take a hardship w/d on my 401k. i now will have about $16,000.00 in collections yet and i am going to contact them and tell them right now i can only pay $50.00 monthly and if i can pay more i will send more as i can.. i have other medical bills as my son has a heart defect. i live in wisonsin and i also am worried about what will happen. i think they should be happy with what you are trying to pay there is usually a reason this is in collection and that reason is i could not afford the payments the hospital wants. that would be 2 car payments or a house payment. i just want to know if i can offer $50.00 monthly

    • They are not required to accept the small monthly payment, and can send you to collection anyway.

      Have you looked into chapter 7 bankruptcy? If you qualify it will eliminate the medical debts (and other unsecured bills). I recommend you consult with an experienced bankruptcy attorney. You do not have to follow through with it, but you will learn a lot. And if you do not pay the medical bills for a while, and that collection escalates before you can get a grip on it, you can sleep better knowing you have a trump card to play if needed.

  18. I just received a summons to go to court in 2 weeks from a medical bill from 2011. I’m not sure what to do. I have rent , car payments , student loans, and a $600 medical bill I’m paying on now. Any advice ?

      • I have a similar situation here. I just received a summons for my son’s medical bill from 2015 for $1,159.00. What are my options? Can I work with the original debt or do I need to go through the collections? I have 10 days to respond. I live in NY. I would rather settle and get it off my credit report. What do you recommend? And what do you recommend I obtain in writing from them?

        • You are typically going to have to deal with the collection law firm once sued.

          If you are prepared to pay close to the full amount you will likely be able to get things negotiated and paid in order to get them to drop the case. You will want to get everything in writing before paying, which is part of a collection law office’s normal work flow.

          If you cannot come up with the money to pay quickly, I would defend the lawsuit in order to buy time to gather the funds.

          • Can you recommend someone I can contact? The last time we went through this with my husband about 5 years ago, we won the case but we ended up paying the attorney more than we owed the debt collector.

            • I will email you a list of experienced debt collection defense attorneys in New York. But you are going to be looking at the same thing here (paying more in legal costs than the the amount owed) because of the low balance they are trying to collect.

  19. Hello

    Recently my son (15 months) vomited twice in the middle of the night and we thought it was an emergency and we took him to an ER. By the time we got there he was alright and since we were there we thought of having him checked. The ER staff did a basic examination and we were made to wait in a room for observation. After a while a doctor came and we consulted. He prescribed medicine and after a while we were discharged. The total amount of time we were there was 2 hours. We got a bill from two entities, the hospital and the doctor. The hospital charged $625 and the doctor $320, totalling $945. As I mentioned earlier my son was alright by the time we got to the hospital and the level of severity was low. But we were charged for a intermediate level and I am disputing with the hospital, saying that it was an non-emergency case and we were there for 2 hours waiting in the room and nothing really happened. I was wondering if I can dispute this at the small claims court and is it worth it to do that. Your response if appreciated

    Thank you

    Balaji

    • Are you being sued for the bill in small claims? If so, you can certainly try to break the situation down, or otherwise get them to substantiate the balance they are suing for.

      If you are not being sued, I would try to work this out administratively still.

      Was there any part of the either bill covered by insurance?

  20. Was admitted to hospital they never got pre approval from insurance company and insurance company said it was medically unnecessary – so no discount. 2 days for observation and 10,500 (but would be 20 % of that if insurance company was paying). Hospital did offer 25% off but this is after a year of medical billing nightmare. How can I get them to settle for a reasonable amount?

    • Can you raise a lump sum of, say half the amount owed? How quickly can you pull that amount together?

      Do you have other unsecured debts besides the medical bills? If so, how much does it all add up to?

  21. If you send the company you owe money to i.e. medical expense, that you will pay say 20 dollars a month and have it notarized, will that hold the dogs off? And you seriously do not have that kind of money and this IS the best you can do.

  22. Mr. Bovee,
    My medical debt of $6,821.82 was sent to the collection company. I did not get any information about any organization that can help me pay that debt. I am disabled, and have been unemployed my whole life, due to my frail body.
    Please, can you help me how to negotiate with the.collection company to make a settlement for a lesser amount? Thank you.

      • Mr. Bovee,
        Thank you so much for your reply. I will follow your advice and will call you to talk about some more details. Very much appreciated for your kindness.

  23. Hello, I have a hospital bill that went to collections and they say that if I pay the amount in full $850 they will not report the debt to my credit. I asked for a negotiated amount and they only offered to cut the debt to $805. They want full payment by July 23rd. I also asked to do a payment arrangement but I was told they will still send the account to my credit anyway even if I am making payments. I want to buy a house next year and terrified of what this will do to my credit. I have the money to pay but honestly I would have to not pay my rent to pay it 🙁

    Guess I’m trying to decide, do I pay it and default on my other bills or let it go to my credit and hope for the best. They did say they will reflect my payments on the credit report and show a balance of $0 when paid off. But even with a $0 balance doesn’t the collection still hurt my credit?

    Btw I have no other accounts in collections, this is the only one.

    Thank you!

  24. I have a very old medical bill that I would like to settle. I believe the amount is around $2,000.00. Collection agencies have long ago stopped calling. The original amount was about $3000.00. I received notice to appear in court and sent a letter with a check for $1,000.00 stating I could not appear. How can I resolve this?

  25. I received a summons for a $799 medical bill from 2012. I did not recall this visit and knew that the creditor had the burden of proof, so I filed my answer with the court that I wanted them to provide the original medical bills.

    Two weeks later I received the verification of debt and first discovery. The debt is valid, unfortunately.

    I contacted the attorney listed on the paperwork to hopefully settle the debt. They have now tacked on an additional $516 in attorney’s fees, court fees, and interest, bringing the new total to $1315. Is it still a reasonable request to settle for less? Is there any chance of that happening?

    Also, is there anything I can do about them only sending one bill (which I don’t recall ever seeing) in the four years they have had this debt? They apparently sent one letter in June 2015 and then sued me.

    I don’t want a judgement against me and I don’t want my wages garnished. I CAN make payments, but I would prefer to settle and be done with it.

    Thanks in advance!

    • Smaller balance accounts are harder to settle for less. There can also be an issue with “illegal discounting”. Watch this video for more detalis about how this can make settling for less a difficult task: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKEVRqmpp7s

      There is really nothing tangible you can do with only receiving one bill.

      Settling is ideal with any older unpaid bills. If that cannot be accomplished, and payments necessary, be prepared to have to sign a stipulation or consent to judgment.

  26. Hi Mike,
    This is regarding my wife’s medical bill for a exam done in 2013. The medical insurance(aetna) is in my name and she is the co-dependent. Lot of things were going on personally at that time and I could not pay the bill for the 2013 exam until Dec 2014. I got the last collection agency(Micheal Harrison llc) notice Oct 2014. Instead of calling the collection agency in Dec 2014 I logged into the provider web site(univ of radiology) and paid the balance using the account number from the bill. Couple of days back my wife checked her free credit report as we were planning to refinance our house and found the collection agency remark on her credit. I called the provider and informed them that i had paid the amt,, they then informed me that when I paid the bill it went to the 2014(apparently she has got a similar exam in DEC 2014) active balance and not 2013 as it was with the collection agency. They also informed that both the balances were on the same account number for the same amt. I have no issue paying the bill but I don’t think I received the Dec 2104 bill. When i spoke to my insurance provider they confirmed that the amt i paid went to the 2014 deductible, he also indicated that hospitals usually will have a diff acct for each visit t=and was not sure why they have the same in this case. i would like a suggestion on how to proceed.

    • If it were me I would try to pay the other balance the same way, and avoid the collection agency all together. Shortly after I paid I would send in credit report disputes about the collection agency reporting as being invalid. Taking those steps can often result in the collection agency deleting the item as they have/had nothing to do with the account.

  27. I got a letter today from the lawyers office saying they no longer can except payments for the hospital they was collecting for I paid them monthly for a few years we still owe money and I don’t understand why the Hospital has done this.

    • Contact the hospital directly and find out what gives. Creditors, lenders, and medical service providers and institutions will change vendors form time to time, and that can include debt collectors.

  28. I am being sued for medical bill the total amount is $2200 they want me to pay 200.00 monthly but I cant and I told that the amount can I pay is $50.00 they say not and that I will receive a notification to go to court

  29. I am being sued for medical debt by a collection agency that represents our local hospital. The amount they say I owe is $5,021.. I have tried to tell them that one claim was submitted to insurance with wrong codes, so the insurance returned it as ‘not covered,’ and said patient is responsible for $2395. Then the hospital correct the codes and sent again, insurance paid the claim. The problem is, the hospital never removed the first claim for $2,395 and are saying I owe it. That entire claim needs to come off, but nobody will help me at the hospital. I told the collection agency, and offered a settlement of 1/3 of what I thought the charges should be. It was declined, so now i have court in 2 days. How can i convince the judge that the charge is wrong, and couldn’t that be a good enough reason for the judge to dismiss the entire lawsuit? I’m scared and have no idea what to expect.

    • Showing that you are being sued for an erroneous amount is indeed a method to get a suit dismissed. Can you show the whole paper trail of how this all happened?

  30. Hi. I just received a letter from a debt collection attorney attempting to collect on a $19,783.78 medical bill. In October of 2014 I went to the ER and was later admitted to run tests. Finally through surgery to pass a tube with the camera, we found that I had a large duodenal ulcer. I was kept in the hospital for 10 days. At the time I had an insurance plan through my work, but it wasn’t a great plan. I work part time, and at the time I made about $9/hr for 22 hours/week. I still work the same number of hours, but am at $10.05/hr. Insurance paid what they would cover, but obviously I have a huge amount owed.

    I’m 46 years old and have many medical issues, including Diabetes 2, Panic Attacks, and Fibromyalgia. At this point, I’m taking 10 prescribed medications (several more than once daily), along with Insulin and prescribed Lidoderm patches for pain. I’m divorced and living with my two adult children that both have mild mental health issues. 26 y/o daughter works about the same hours a week as I do, at $8.55/hr and 18 y/o son is not currently employed.

    I live in Louisiana and got the letter from a lawyer in Alabama, attempting to collect. We are barely making the bills as it is, but I could possibly pay about $30/mo or so. I’m terrified of possibly going to jail over this, or having to go to court. Yes, I should have called earlier to work out a payment plan, but I honestly have difficulty just getting through the day without anything other than work. When I get home, I end up taking medicine and sleeping because I hurt and am exhausted.

    I do understand I owe this bill, but with the large amount, please let me know what I should do in my case. I now have until May 15th to notify if I dispute any of the debt. I have no way to borrow that amount and have no credit cards or any way I can pay a huge chunk of money. I live paycheck to paycheck, no savings or any other money stashed anywhere.

    Thank you so much for any advice you can give me. I did read from a response about calling the hospital, speaking to a patient representative, and asking about applying for charity care for low income. I would like to try that, but am unsure if the hospital will even speak to me at this point now that it’s been turned over to an attorney.

    • Do you have any other unsecured debts? If so, how much do they add up to?

      Throwing 30 dollars a month at this will not get you far. My first suggestion is to speak with an experienced bankruptcy attorney in your area. Filing chapter 7 could eliminate this, and other debts.

      I do encourage you to speak with the hospital regardless of the collectors involved. But if there are no options there, get an understanding of what bankruptcy would like like for you.

  31. Hello Michael. I have been sent to collections for an ER visit for my daughter in 2014. Part of the bill was sent to the insurance company and was paid. The portion for an MRI and lab work was somehow sent to our previous insurance and denied, rightly so. We contacted the hospital numerous times with the current insurance information and they said they would bill the correct insurance. After several conversations with my insurance, they stated they never received the claim. The account went to collections and when I called the collection agency they said they would take my insurance information and send it back to the hospital so they could submit the claim. Again my insurance said they never received the claim. We now have a balance of over 4k that we don’t feel we should be responsible for since we had insurance coverage at the time of the visit. Do we have any options besides paying the debt? We are beginning the process of buying a new house and this has had a negative affect on our interest rate. We would like to get it cleared up before we close on our mortgage in 3 months.

  32. I broke my foot recently and didn’t know where else to go but the ER. It was a sliding accident while playing softball, so my leg was cut, but not related to the broken foot. I was given an aspirin in the ER and they cleaned my cut. My foot had to be XRayed and they came back in and said it was broken. They then gave me a soft boot, crutches, and told me there was nothing they could do for me. They then gave me the number to call for an orthopedic surgeon. I have a high deductible insurance and after what they paid, I owe $1100 total for the ER visit. The ER doctor’s “Prescribed” treatment was for me to wear the soft boot and the total bill was $1600. My part of that bill is $450. The ER charged $2200 and my part was $650. They didn’t do anything for me that was beneficial and if I would have had any idea, I would have just toughed it up and called the orthopedic surgeon in the morning instead of going to the ER. I want to negotiate payment, or get it waived. I feel it is criminal. I looked at the medical records and they didn’t add any false treatments. I’m not sure if I have any grounds to stand on because of this. I have good credit, but I own my house and cars outright and pay for things instead of getting loans. I am willing to mess up my credit because I think the hospital is stealing from me.

  33. I live in Southern California. In 2014, my son was taken by a city ambulance to a hospital emergency room as a precaution after he briefly passed out while on an outing with a day care worker. The charge was $1,714, of which my insurance, Blue Cross of California, paid 70%, leaving me with 30% of the balance ($514), which was as expected (although I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be 30% of ALLOWED amount, or 30% of the BILLED amount. I am not disputing the amount due.

    However — I thought we had paid the bill and then suddenly, at the beginning of this year I received frequent calls from a bill collector (super nice, btw) informing me that in addition to some $30 in interest, there was a collection fee of $130. They claim they are authorized by the City to collect that fee, and referred me to a law passed by the city.

    This collection fee seems excessive. On the billing document from the City it simply lists the expected charges and my balance due of $514 as “Write-off-bad debt”. I did not agree or sign a contract with the collection agency — should I have to pay the $130? At this point should I simply offer to pay the amount due plus the interest?

  36. My husband had an accident last November well and he didn’t have any insurance the bill is 9200. He has been making a payment on one of the bill monthly but this past month . He suffered a accident or he has a broken leg. The collection agency try to contact me and say the I need to pay because the car was under my name . I resive a second later say the I need to pay it . If not I will not able to have Dl.

      • I live in Sacramento . Because I was the owner of the car . But I wasn’t driving it in the day of the accident . And they say if my hobby don’t have the money. I need to pay for it because I was the owner of the car. If not my driving licencia will be suspended. I am very depressed and stress out because of it . I don’t know what to do .

        • I am going to send you an email with contact details to an experienced debt collection consumer law attorney. He works with people all over the state. Ask him about what you are being told.

  37. I have a medical bill from an ER visit. I thought insurance would cover it, it did not, and got lost in the shuffle of changing insurances. I have been sued by the Hospital directly. I never dealt with a collection agency. They have a lawyer and I was served a complaint. I completed the answer and was hoping for a pre-trial meeting in order to settle the debt. Instead I have a notice to appear for nonjury trail in two months. Is there a way to pay a % still to settle it? What should I do? I don’t want to go to court. They apparently also have another bill that they haven’t sued me over but plan to. The attorney’s office had two cases going against me.
    Thank you for your advice.

  38. I live about 50minutes drive from Indianapolis, IN.
    If you could help locate some Attorneys that are pro bono towards my case, I would really appreciate your help. I would definitely try to talk to the attorneys before reaching out to the hospital as you advised. Thank you so much again for taking your time to help me out.

    • I do not know any pro bono attorneys in Indiana for this type of issue. I did email you a list of attorneys who may be able to refer you to someone near you though.

  39. I don’t know any other attorney that would offer free consultation for this matter. I completely agree with you in regards that I really feel that I had a case but somehow always got shut down by the two previous attorney.
    No, I have not talked or written to the hospital administration. Should I come talk to them personally or write to them so there is a document as a record?

    • Where do you live? I may be able to help you with locating a few more attorneys to speak with.

      If it were me, I would likely reach out to hospital admin, and first with a precise outline of all that transpired, followed by a desired outcome. But because this has gone this far, I might do a few more attorney consults and ask for their opinion on contacting the hospital.

  40. I have talked with two experienced attorneys. They both said that it would be tough to win my case if I would like to pursue legal action since I would require an expert witness and therefore advised me to just pay the hospital bills or tried to negotiate with the hospital. My problem is that I’m traumatized to go back there after my experience with the hospital from both ER Doctor to the ER nurse.

    • I would look to speak with another attorney or three. You may still hear the same or similar feedback, but I would want to run the situation by more than just 2.

      So you have not spoken with or written to hospital administration?

  41. Hi Michael,
    Thank you for your quick response. Here is my situation. Last September I went to the ER because of severe headache from bugs bite. I was prescribed two strong antibiotics and Dilaudid for pain. After taking the meds and the IM injection from Dilaudid I started feeling very dizzy and within 5 minutes experiencing vertigo and losing balance. The nurse ignored what I told her and pressed for a discharge and didn’t even bother to tell the ER doc. She wheeled me out and left me with my mother despite my loss of balance. An hour after I got home, I started having difficulty breathing, gasping, completely loss muscle strength and started puking. When I couldn’t tell my heart beat because I was very weak I asked mom to call the ambulance and when ambulance transferred me I puked two more times. I was so sick that I thought I was going to die because I couldn’t even sign my name and very trouble breathing. Long story short they did a lot of testing and imaging and one of the tests for blood clot was elevated. At the end the same ER Doctor came and admitted she over drugged and over dosed me. I didn’t have any insurance at the time of the admittance so I got a discount from the hospital. I had no issue paying the hospital except for the fact I absolutely felt they almost killed me and led me to having to come back to the ER the second time from the over dosing and over drugged me that ER Doctor made a mistake the first time I came in for the headache and cellulitis. That’s why I refused to pay for the high bill due to the second time came back to the ER all in one night and within an hour from the first discharge. The total hospital bill from every departments was around 6K. I now have multiple collectors agencies contacting me for different portions of the total hospital bill.
    My questions for you are:
    1. what are your thoughts?
    2. What do you think I should do?
    3. What’s the likelihood the collector agencies will take me to court?
    My main collector agencies is Premier from Indianapolis, IN. Thank you for your time and for your help. I greatly appreciate you.

    • Have you talked with the hospital administration about your billing and treatment concerns?
      Have you talked over your concerns with an experienced attorney?

      What were the results of those communications if you had them?

      I would do both of those things if you have not yet.

      People are sued over unpaid medical debts. It is a real concern, but the mistreatment you received, if as you described, should win the day (help produce a favorable outcome).

      • It’s year old and it 5000 dollars . I’m from Wisconsin it the central Wisconsin anesthesiology that during me. The goal is to get a payment plan going n get th of my back

        • How much can you afford to pay monthly? You can talk with them and if they are willing to accept what you can afford, be ready to sign off on a consent or stipulation to judgment.

          What if they agreed to take less than that in a lump sum settlement? This would potentially allow you to avoid any judgment, or risk of judgment.

  43. I was in the er last year and have a medical bill of$700 which got sent to the collection agency i have making payments of $25 since December. I recent applied for a credit card due to having to have more surgery in april and wanting extra income to pay the deductible. Today the collection agency contacted me and told to that since i have card credit now i can pay them otherwise they will take me to court my question is the collection agency able to check my credit report often without my permission and not let me know and is that an invasion of privacy through the credit bureau

    • Most debt collectors have real time access to your credit reports, and they definitely are paying attention to what happens with them in order to use that information to collect from you.

      It is not considered improper.

  44. Hi Michael!! My son had two surgeries in about a years time and accrued about 9000.00 in medical bills, he has finally got a job and an apartment, proud of him that way, but he neglected to try and pay off medical debt, and now a a letter to sue and came to him with a court date, he didn’t goto court, don’t know what action they will take yet. He lives in Minnesota. Question, can bill collector for Fairview hospital garnish his wages for the 9000.00 dollar debt, and if they can what can he do if he doesn’t make enough to live on right now??

    • Once a garnishment is in play he will have the right to contest that formally through the court. He will want to act on that immediately. If he qualifies for partial or full exemption the court will protect his wages.

      After a garnishment fails is often a good time to negotiate a settlement.

  45. I have $38,000 in unpaid hospital bills. Mostly consisting of when I was a baby and too young to know I was an abandoned child in Florida. How do I settle my hospital bills if I am a ward of the court. I am now 26. I dont know if the law still continues at that age. I also went to school but was going through hardships and need help paying my school loan debt of only $4,000. I would like to some day return to school open-minded and debt free to continue my nursing degree. Please give me some advice.

  46. My family has incurred a lot of medical debt due to 3 different types of therapy for my son’s autism. We had monthly bills come in from the local health system where he was getting his therapy, and i missed one somewhere along the line and it got sent to collections. The health system then sent the entire bill to collections, which totals over $13,000. I had to quit work to take my son to his appointments, so we were down to 1 income. We were making monthly payments to the collection agency, and it has never shown up on our credit report. A few months ago, when i got my statement from the collection agency, there was only $10,000 left on the bill. I then received a bill from a second collection agency for the other $3,000. So now i have to pay 2 different bills to 2 different collection agencies. We have been told that the health system will not allow them to settle debt under any circumstances. Is it legal for them to split a portion of the bill and send it to another collection agency when we’ve been paying on it religiously?

    • I would not think the partial reassignment to a different collection agency is illegal. I see one variation or another of that happen all the time. But you shoudl speak with an experienced debt defense attorney in your state to get a legal question like that answered.

      Medical debt collectors and billing departments are often precluded from settling for less than what is owed if a portion of the bill has already been covered by insurance. Giving the insured a discount when the insurer did not get one, having already met their obligation, is often not allowed per their contracts.

  47. I was brought to the ER a year and a half ago, I almost died, was in a coma for a week. My health insurance was not very good. I now owe roughly $7,000 to hospital, and doctors. I had a long term disabiity policy from work which paid me from February 2015 to December 2015. I applied for SSDI and received a Fully Favorable Decision on October 28 of 2015. I received my lump sum payment from SS in the beginning of January 2016. My Disability Company now wants me to pay back over $15,000. It was my understanding that I only had to pay back the months since my hearing which was October 2015. Because of my long term disability and spending 5 weeks in hospital and physicial rehabilition I had mounting bills. I used alot of the “back pay” from SSDI to pay those bills and get caught up. My question is what to do now. I asked if I could make payments as I don’t have the entire $15,000. That is $1,000 more than my award was anyway. They said I had TEN months to pay the entire amount, which is impossible. The said they would send my account to collections. What exactly does that mean. I am already offering to give them monthly payments just not the amount they are asking. What will happen to me?, aside from my credit taking a hit, which it already has since I have all of those medical bills in collection already.

    • Not much more will happen to your credit if you already have all those bills showing as collection accounts. And your credit will improve as you resolve the medical bills one by one.

      How much can you afford to pay each month if not 1k?

  48. I’m expecting to lose so is it normal for them to levy bank accounts? Or will they just order wage garnishment ? Or will they work with me on a payment plan? What typically happens once judgment is made ?

    • If you can get a payment agreement set up you can avoid garnishment of bank levy. Be sure to get everything in writing. You may end up getting the flexibility you need right at the court house if you cannot structure anything prior.

  49. I have a court date set for 2/1/16 for medical bill of originally $1400 now after interest and fees $2900. Like many others, the collection agency is trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. I do not have savings, nor do I have family able to help me with a lump sum. I could possibly afford $100/mo at most. At this point, is it best to just wait until court judgement to work out payment plan , or should I contact the collection agency / attorney to see if they would accept $100/mo? I live in Washington state and it sounds like they can garnish up to 25% of my wages and I couldn’t survive on the remaining income. If I should call to work out a payment plan to avoid court , do I call the attorney directly or the collection agency he’s representing?

    • You typically have to work out the details with the attorney now that he/she has brought a collection action in the court. Be prepared to agree to consent or stipulate to a judgment in order to get the monthly payments you need.

  50. I had surgery back in 2013 I thought the whole surgery was covered and now the doctor is bringing me to court to pay the balance of $1,400.00 there’s no way I can pay this amount all at once it’s now 2016 and my hearing is scheduled for this coming Thursday do you think the judge can lower that amount? Please advise!

    • The judge is not going to lower your medical bill without evidence to support that decision. Your not being able to afford to pay it is not an actionable reason to the judge. You could look to set up some type of affordable monthly payment while in the court process, or settle the bill for lower than the amount they are suing for.

      Settling will help to prevent a judgment, where a monthly payment plan could find you with a judgment, or having to stipulate or consent to one.

  51. I currently have three accounts of unpaid medical bills each around 100 from different third party debt collectors all our from different hospitals in the state of Arizona where I am currently and the unpaid medical bills are about 4 years old my question is can anyone of those unpaid medical bills agency sue me ? I want to start a saving account but I am afraid my money will be taken away

    • I do not anticipate lawsuits for debts around 100 dollars. If one were to occur, you would typically be served and able to resolve the debt before a judgment entered (the judgment enables the bank account levy).

      You can also look to be proactive and resolve the debts one by one, while still opening your bank account today.

  52. Girl who fell off her horse. And by the way he stepped on my head. I would not go to emergency if i just fell off.
    Can I pay original creditor in full.. skip Collection Agency?

    • Hi Lisa – It was good to speak with you about your situation yesterday. You did leave off the head stepping when we spoke. Ouch!

      Yes, you can often circumnavigate dealing with the outside debt collector by dealing directly with the service provider, or their medical billing company. I recommend it often. It may be harder to do with some of the debts we covered last night that are as old as they are. It is worth a shot though, and I will still want receipts and documentation as necessary.

  53. Michael,
    I am a 21 years old and have a total of $21,000 in debt collections; all medical bills. I have been unemployed for basically my whole life, due to repeated medical problems and disability and I am in dyer need of some guidance. I have no family besides my mother whom is in no situation to be able to lend me anywhere near even 50% of what is owed to “settle”. Not being able to buy myself a vehicle nor qualify for rentals because of this medical debt is the most belittling thing. I suffer from seizures, a sever panic disorder/social anxiety and minimal PTSD so you can see where its very hard for me to keep jobs, no matter how hard I work to stick it out. I just don’t see any possible way to be able to “settle” so much money, especially anytime soon; when needing at least OKAY credit is very important at this time in my life. Please, if you have any ideas, I would appreciate it immensely. The last thing I want, is to have to file bankruptcy at age 21. Thanks much!

    Sage Winter

    • Sage – Sometimes bankruptcy is the option of first resort and something to run to, rather than away from. Your comment suggests to me that your goals and needs are consistent with at least talking to an attorney about chapter 7. Review this article about finding a bankruptcy attorney and then call a couple of attorneys.

  54. My husband had 3rd degree burns after a kitchen fire and had to go to ER and was referred to burn center in our state – our insurance paid out of network and we owe over $15,000 to the burn center. I have tried getting financial assistance, working with the billing department and even appealed the decision with my insurance company (which was denied). I make $60/month payments on 6 different accounts to the medical bills and they are wanting us to pay almost $500/month (which we surely can’t do) now I got a letter from an attorney where they are going to sue us for the total.

    What can we do? The insurance company should have paid in network – we were referred to the burn center and now we are getting penalized for seeking medical care that we had no choice to get. I don’t know what to do.

  55. Hi.
    I have a bit of a complicated situation regarding medical bills. I live in GA and went to the ER in April of this year for a severe allergic reaction. I am 20 and covered by my parents’ awful insurance that has a $6000 deductible (insurance never paid a single cent).
    I received 3 bills. One from radiology for under $100 which I paid. One from the doctor’s group for $1200 (adjusted to $800 by insurance). One from the hospital for $6000 (adjusted to $3400 by insurance).
    1) I never saw the doctor bill since I was away at college and my parents did not see it, so it went to collections. It has been 3 weeks since then. I saw a call I missed (collection) but did not answer. Can I still pay the doctor directly and ask them to delete the account/debt?

    2) I hold the hospital responsible for all but $2000 of their debt as well as half of the debt I owe the doctor as a result of their negligence (I have proof and a witness). I submitted a dispute letter a month ago and have called to follow up, but they say it is processing. If they will not lower the amount I am responsible for, do I have any options besides letting it go to collections?

    I have no income, assets, or savings. My credit rating is average and probably about to tank because of this whole deal. My parents say a lawyer is not a good way to go because his/her fee could easily exceed the bill amount.

    Thanks in advance.

    • I would wait for the outcome of the dispute before doing anything. That would change the amount you owe, and it could give you an increased ability to get thisback in the hands of the service providers billing desk too.

      Post an update with the outcome of the dispute and lets go from there.

  56. I live in CA and I had a medical bill go into collections in 2010. I got into contact with the collection agency and they gave me two options: either start to make monthly payments, or settle on one lump sum. the debt will continue to increase off of interest until i pay it off. The amount I owe is around $3,500 but its still more than i can afford right now.

    Would it be better for me to start working on making monthly payments? Or should I wait for it to fall off in the next year and a half?

    • I would first consider what credit and finance goals I have in the next 2 years. If a home loan or refinance were something I was hoping to accomplish, I would look to negotiate a lower lump sum pay off on the medical bill, and any other unpaid debt on my credit reports. I would not want to set up monthly payments as that may not help me reach my goals and would likely reset the SOL to sue if I were unable to keep up the monthly payments.

      If not trying to improve credit to make a major purchase I would probably wait out the credit reporting,

  57. I got in a serious car accident back in Jan of 2013. I was in shock had extreme chest pain, and back pain. My local ambulance took me to the main hospital. I knew I had medicaid coverage then. But I recently received a paper saying a debt collector was suing me for the ambulance charges of $1220. I never received any bills for the ambulance before and all of a sudden I’m getting sued. So I called the medicaid reps confirmed my coverage of that date, then I called the billing dept they submitted the claim of $1220, even though it was past the 12 months time, but I informed them I was mentally unstable and in shock. I’m waiting for a response for them in the mail. Then I briefly called the debt collector to dispute the charges,said I am working on disproving them. I’ve have not responded to the small claims. I don’t like leaving my house and had a serious depression were I could not get out of bed..Isn’t it the ambulance providers responsibility to submit the claim to the medicaid team? What can I do to assure I get the charges covered by medicaid even if it’s been 2 yrs? Do I just show up with the medicaid papers at court? I want to sue them back for time wasted. It’s not right. Personal note: I have agoraphobia ever since the accident, and have no means of transportation. I am willing to fight back but I feel stuck

    • You should show up and challenge the claim in small claims. Be prepared to the degree necessary with all documentation. Have a record of dates, times, and names of people you spoke to regarding the insurance coverage, and calls to the debt collector too. In other words,it helps to put together a chronology of events both then, and since learning of the collections.

      What state are you in?
      Do you have a set hearing date?

  58. Hello, I have medical bills from 2012. I am being sued by a lawyer for $3700. Just received the summons today saying I have to “answer” within 20 days. I am currently paying other medical bills and cannot pay the full amount. Should I call the attorney to try and negotiate? I have a lot of school loan debt as well – about $70,000 that I’m slowly working on. I am a teacher and make a little money-enough to pay daycare costs, some school loans, etc. I could pay about 50% up front and that’s pushing it. Thanks for any help!

  59. One of my relatives was recently in an auto accident and she was injured. It was dark, there were no witnesses, and the other party apparently lied to the policeman about what happened and the accident report appears to be in the other party’s favor. Ultimately, it is a case that will be hard to prove. My relative has no medical insurance because she attempted to receive help by applying ObamaCare (Texas) and they would not help her. At her job, she is classified as part-time and she does not qualify for the medical nor does she make much money. The hospital bill alone is almost $32,000.00. Her car was completely totaled. She is not covered medically as a driver on her auto insurance. The insurance agreed to pay her for the totaled car and that is what she plans to use to pay some of the medical bills with. She will not have enough money to pay the hospital what it is asking for. She turned in an assistance application at the hospital, but it has been almost 30 days and she is getting nervous. She just got the gigantic bill from the hospital the other day and the due date is in about one week according to the bill (which is kind of short notice). She called the phone number on the bill and explained that a lady at the hospital (the branch that she went to and attached a copy of the lady’s business card to the letter) is working on her assistance application. She was told to send the amount that she could at this time. She sent them a check yesterday along with a short letter summarizing what she told the billing dept. over the phone. She was attended to in the emergency room when she arrived and then transferred to a hospital bed in the hospital, had a 45 minute surgery to repair a rather deep laceration near the elbow joint on her arm, and stayed overnight. I, personally, think the hospital bill is overly inflated. Could she perhaps offer them a lump sum of 50% to 60% less? (We are thinking about loaning her the money interest free so she does not have to deal with the hospital. It will take her a long time to pay us, but she is good for it) Also, if they filed a hospital lien, how can she be sure that they remove it? She is in a bind. I am worried about her. What would you suggest?

    • I would not do anything until you learn the outcome of the assistance application. Post an update with what occurs with that and lets go from there.

  60. I received a summons for an alleged medical bill from an ER visit. The Collection agency is suing me for the amount of the bill $268.64 a pre-judgement interest fee of 8% in the amount of $4.70, complaint filing fee of $97.00, reasonable attorney fees, estimated service fee of at least $25, and a post judgement interest fee of 8%.

    The bill for my hospital visit, i believed was paid through the hospital. I never received a bill from emergency physicians at porter (listed as the original creditor). I have called the hospital and received a $0 balance statement as I paid the hospital upon receipt of my bill. Also, they are citing the account statement prepared by the CA as evidence of debt and Citing terms and conditions of an agreement I made with the hospital (Not the collection agency, nor the originating creditor) for collecting the interest attorney’s fees and other above fees listed.

    Questions:
    1 I do not believe this to be proof of debt as it is not a direct bill from Emergency Physicians at Porter (EPP) or signed agreement between myself and EPP. Is that something I could pursue?

    2 Is their reference in using my agreement with the hospital to “collect reasonable attorney fees and interest” because it is neither an agreement between myself and the CA nor myself and EPP?

    3 If the agreement signed by me with the hospital, it states “any remaining charges are due and payable upon receipt of bill” however I did not received a bill. Is it the plantiff’s (The CA’s) burden of proof then to show that I did in fact receive a bill from the originating creditor.

    I will consult an attorney on this matter in the state of CO. I did call EPP and ask if they had anything on file for me. They mentioned there was an account that was turned over to collections. I asked to verify the address they had on file for me and that they sent a bill. The address is correct. I stated I never received calls from them that I had not paid the bill and she said “Unfortunately because we service bills nationally, unless we are flagged with a return mail address they get turned over to collections after a period of time.” I requested a statement to be mailed to me.

    Any help you can provide is much appreciated! Thank you!

    • 1. I would pursue it.

      2. I cannot answer that, I do not have all of the documents, and it is something to ask an attorney to go over with you to determine.

      3. That burden appears to indeed be on the collector. You will have to get the court to agree to see this that way of course.

  61. Hello,

    I live in Colorado and just received a summons for roughly $800 from when my child was hospitalized about two years ago. The summons is from the collections agency that bugged me for about 6 months and then stopped contacting me. I can pay the amount now and frankly am not 100% sure we actually owe the debt.

    Few questions:
    1. Should I contact the hospital directly about paying any balance?
    2. I want to avoid court. If I can’t work with the provider, should I try to settle with the CA?
    3. If I am able to settle, do I still have to respond to the summons? If so, do I just say it has been paid and provide documentation?
    Truly any advice is appreciated and helpful.

    • Contacting the hospital or medical service provider now that you have been sued will not get you anywhere. You have to deal with this at the court level.

      It is possible to settle the medical bill for less than what they are suing for. You will want to contact the debt collection attorney suing in order to do that. Use the tips about negotiating a pay off when sued.

      If I were unsure whether the medical debt is even due (insurance already paid, was not a procedure or service provided to your child, an error, etc), I would probably answer the complaint denying the debt and start communicating with the debt collector about proof the debt is owed. If it is established to be a valid debt, I would then look at negotiating the amount to a lower lump sum pay off.

  62. Hi Michael!

    If I am presented with a $58,000 medical bill, what would be a reasonable amount to negotiate with the hospital for a one time payment? They offered me a 20% discount but I am told I should negotiate a higher percentage since they would get pennies on the dollar if they sold it to collections. Thoughts?
    Thank you!

    • How old is the debt?
      How collectable do you look (home, cars, on time payments to credit cards, etc)?

      Try not to get hung up on stuff about selling and buying debt for pennies on the dollar. Some debts never get sold, and these things are done in huge volume by people who do not think by one account at a time. They do not see pennies on the dollar the way you and I do.

      • Debt is since last August. I have been able to hold off going to collections while I was working with my insurance carrier. That does not look like it will go in my favor. I do not own a home. I have an older car. My credit score in 805 (I always pay on-time).
        I am thinking that the hospital wants to get as much as they can but what would be reasonable to offer them? For example, I could make a one-time payment of 25,000-30,000, which is 50% of the original bill.

        • If your insurance is not covering anything, I would say 50 percent is a realistic target for settlement.

          There are instances where you can settle for much less if you can show close to indigent qualified, but that does not appear to be the case here.

  63. Can I settle with the provider (doctor is willing) and file a motion to vacate or dismiss with the court and show proof that the debt is paid so that the judgement is not filed and they leave me alone? The collection agency is being difficult and rude since I am trying to work out a settlement.

    • I edited out the repetitive part of your post April.

      It sounds like you need to file an answer, even with just general denials. I am not sure how effective what ever you get done today will be if it is anything other than meeting any answer deadline so that you have more time to navigate all of this.

  64. I am in Washington State and I need to respond to judgment summons by collection attorney TODAY. This was a $1,000 medical collection, which has ballooned to $1800+ with the collection agency (YCCS). Can I settle with the doctor (he is willing) and then file a motion to vacate due to the debt being paid (showing proof) and cut out the collection attorney?

  65. Hello,

    She has no other debts. She has no employment at the moment and is not able to handle it right now (medications, etc.) One hospital wants us to co-sign her application for assistance, saying we will not be liable if we do sign, but we refused. Another hospital is already threatening collections if she doesn’t get on some kind of assistance, and this is only a week since she was released. As to further need, she has need of medications and possibility for future need since her condition is volatile.

    Since she is of age she is trying to apply for assistance as household of one, just herself, but they insist on every adult living with her and all their assets, not just her assets. We don’t see the need for it, since she lives in our home, but is not legally under our care, and the car / home , etc. do not belong to her.
    It is amusing to note the lofty creed at this non profit hospital- of helping the poor and unfortunate, in the light of what’s going on.
    Thank you,
    vc

  66. Hello,
    I hope you can give me some advice. My 25 yr. old daughter was hospitalized for mental condition and now is faced with over 30,000 in debt. She is not able to work, and filed for disability but chances of getting it are slim ( her age, not enough work credits). As to Medicaid for which she is applying, it seems she is not eligible (again age). We live in Alaska. We (the family) give her room and board, and try to help but we have no means to pay this bill for her. The applications for Medicaid are very intrusive, want to know all family members income, etc. even though she is an adult and not a dependent. Applying for the charity from the hospital is even worse, because they want all the family assets ( just because she lives with us). My husband and I are reluctant to give the information, so as not to compromise the household since we have younger children in our care. Could we be held liable for her debt if we give the information they request? Please advise.
    Thank you,
    vc

    • She is of majority age. Did you or your wife sign anything taking on any financial responsibility?

      Has her situation stabilized, or is there immediate potential for additional medical costs?

      Has she looked at her options with chapter 7 bankruptcy? Are there other debts beside the medical bills?

      I cannot see the needs based information questionnaires, so cannot respond with confidence. Those forms are often more about identifying who will get full or partial indigence charity based on need, and not a way to establish liability for payments.

  67. Thank you. I will try that and go from there. I moved last year and a lot of the paperwork is hard to find. It might’ve been they said I didn’t have coverage with them (the insurance company) for a year, and that’s why it was denied. Is that a violation of the Affordable Care Act?

    I will contact them once I get off work.

    Thank you for your help!

  68. You need to do three things right away: first contact your insurance company and find out exactly WHY they denied the claim. Then file an appeal. You ALWAYS have the right to appeal a denial of care.

    Next contact the Insurance Commissioner for your state and file a complaint that your carrier denied care in violation of the Affordable Care Act.

    Last: set up a payment plan because even if your carrier does pay the claim now you are going to have something out of pocket on this hospitalization. Even if it is $50 a payday you are better off than stuffing the bills in a sock drawer until they sue you.

  69. Hi. In June or July 2012 I was hospitalized for a few days. I used my health insurance card from my work. Months later I got a letter that I could owe $40,000 because my insurance wouldn’t cover it. I explained I had insurance and to bill them. After a while the hospital said the insurance wouldn’t pay because of a preexisting condition. I told them I thought they couldn’t do that any more (by now it was 2014). Then they said my insurance wouldn’t pay because I hadn’t been with my company for a year at the time I was hospitalized. I was weeks to a month short. That didn’t make sense to me either because my insurance card says right on it the effective date, which was Sept. 2011. Then I told the hospital I couldn’t pay their huge bill and didn’t have the money. They sent me bill after bill for $16,900 (can’t remember exact amount, but close to that figure). I stuffed the bills in my sock drawer, promptly forgetting about them.

    Then just recently I got a call from a collector. He claimed I owed $20,000. Also mentioned my good credit. I told him how I thought the insurance should pay and I don’t know if I handled it well but at the end he said he was putting me down as refused to pay. He hung up before I could get his contact info. Now I am worried about getting sued and wage garnishment.

    I’m not sure what I should do. Your advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

  70. Last year I had emergency surgery without any insurance. My bills totaled over $120,000.00.
    I requested charity from the hospital and received a huge discount but still owed $21,000.00 just to them. Other medical bills are being paid with monthly payments. I am making monthly payments without fail, to the hospital but they still sent me to collections. The man I spoke to at the agency was very rude and threatened to take out home. My name is the only one on the bill. My husband and I are both on Social Security. Our funds are limited. The hospital will not return my calls. Do I need a lawyer or can I just keep sending in payments each month. I have every intention of paying this debt but now they have tacked on $2400.00 in interest. Please help.

    • What state do you live in, and how much equity do you have in your home.

      Can you be exact in quoting what it was the collector said when threatening to take your home?

      • I’m in California.
        The man at the agency kept repeating “you have a home” and “you have real estate. ”
        Our house is actually upside down at this point and we are already paying two small loans on the house now.

        • Being upside down on the home equity, and in a fixed income situation with the social security, it could make a great deal more sense to file chapter 7 bankruptcy, than continuing down the path you are on. Have you consulted with a bankruptcy attorney about that option?

          • We would rather not file bankruptcy at this time. We are my mother’s caregivers and I am on her bank accounts.
            My main question right now is how can they send someone to collections when you are making payments? Should I continue making these payments? I do plan on finding a lawyer but I was always told if a company accepts your checks as payment then collections were not involved.

  71. Yes, they can legally negotiate with her because she is the child’s mother with custody and care rights.

    You cannot force them to work out a lower price on this one and given her default I can’t blame them even though it is not your fault. You can reach out to the provider directly and see if they will agree when the collection agency is refusing. They might have some sympathy for you.

    Absent that working I would haul mom back into family court for not keeping the insurance intact and defaulting. The family court can hold her in contempt, order her to reinstate the insurance, reimburse you for the unnecessary expense due to her negligence and poor money management, and other penalties as they see fit. If you don’t do this she will continue to take advantage.

  72. Hello, I had to take my son to the hospital after he broke his nose at the baseball field. A couple months later I get an $8,000.00 bill from the hospital and a $900.00 bill from Kids Pediatrics because apparently his mother missed the insurance payment that month which caused a gap in coverage. The bill came to me because i brought him and signed the paperwork at the hospital. She and I were never married and haven’t been together in 5 years but I give her half of the insurance payment in cash every month per our court agreement. His mother contacted the collection agency and negotiated a settlement twice and never paid. I never gave approval or even knew she was contacting them after the fact. When I finally called to try to set up a settlement plan they told me that she already did and defaulted. So they weren’t going to negotiate for those lower prices. When I explained the situation the person said since she is my spouse she could negotiate the settlement. I clarified that she is the mother of my son but we were not ever married. He edited that in his system and told me I should sue her in court if this is the case and gave me the option to make $100.00 payments every month. So my question is can they legally negotiate with her if she is not my spouse and is there something I can do to work out a lower price? They offered her $1,000 the first time but she defaulted. I tried to settle for that price but they refused. Any information is extremely helpful. Thank you in advance.

  73. I live in Va. Have a couple over drafted bank accounts…credit card debt…. 14,000 with hospital bills ….doc bills… etc. I only make 800.00 a month.

    Can I be jailed for not paying these bills. Can I be jailed if I cannot afford court cost related to these bills. I am looking to file bankruptcy asap. Do some lawyers help clients who deal with poverty? I really want a fresh start.

    • You cannot be jailed for the bills going unpaid. If you are sued and ignore a judges order (like showing up for an asset discovery hearing), that can lead to some problems.

      Contact a low income legal aid office and find out if you qualify for low or no cost assistance.

      • If I am sued and have court cost. Can I be jailed if I cannot afford the Cost? I am looking hard to find a bankruptcy lawyer within the area.

        I am just really stressed…cannot sleep. I have no criminal background or anything…. it just seems like every bill collector I talk to treats me like crap… I made some bad choices and was young and still am young I just wanna fix all this. There are to many accounts to pay something on all.

        • Not for the debt being unaffordable, no. But never ignore anything that the court directs you to do.

          All of these concerns will be put behind you when these debts are discharged in a chapter 7 bankruptcy. I do not recommend it, but if your chapter 7 is going to be really basic and simple, you can do them on your own. If you are not intimidated by the prospect of that, check out the DIY bankruptcy book published by NOLO Press.

  74. So I am helping my girlfriend to improve her credit score and while we were on there we noticed she had something in collections. It turned out to be when she went to the ER 2 years ago for cut thumb. At the time she thought she had only one bill at the hospital that I took us a month to clear up because the hospital had the wrong insurance on file and we finally got it cleared up after going in and calling around numerous times and her insurance payed 80% and she paid the remainder. Well it turns out they had a second bill through Infinity for the physician cost for the ER that the hospital never told us about after a handful of conversations, and Infinity informed us that the USPS kept returning the bill saying it was undeliverable. Even though the address was her parents that hasn’t changed in 20 years and the other hospital bill, was able to be delivered in the mail just fine.Then they stated they left several messages on her parents home was the only formal contact, but her parents felt they never had no such message.

    At this point she has a bill for $709, that would’ve been covered by her parents insurance if they would’ve billed the correct one initially and or actually notified her that there was a second bill so she could pay it. I have obtained a copy of the bill now, and it has her correct address on it so I’m not sure why it couldn’t have been mailed. Also since its two years later, she is to old to be on her parents insurance, and we’ve been told insurance might not pay now since its been longer than a year.

    What would you say would be best plan of action if we are trying to protect her credit score and not have to pay as much of the $709 as possible because if it was handled correctly and we were actually notified she would have only paid like $150. Should we seek a attorney, or just pay it off since the amount is so small that paying an attorney would cost just as much?

    • I would work with an attorney only if the principle of the matter reaches beyond the dollars and “sense” of the matter, as you could easily pay the attorney more than the total of the medical bill.

      Whether or not you work with an attorney, I would start off with filing a debt collection complaint with the CFPB. They really care about the medical billing, collection, and credit reporting issues that affect us all. Be thorough in what you include in your collection and billing complaint. You are willing and able to pay, and always have been, but never knew about the debt.

      Post an update with the response you get and lets go from there.

  75. I found out today that I am being sought after for a medical debt of over 20K. I was involved in a car accident about 2 years ago where I was found at fault. I carried the insurance required, however did not contain any bodily injury insurance (I live in FL and do carry that insurance now). I received a couple different letters about this debt and contacted the NSB in a timely matter each time, being reassured that the letter did not have any affect. The last letter claimed a loss in my driver’s license if I did not pay, in which I called and was again told to disregard that letter. Today I was left a voicemail from the NSB claiming this debt needed paid and was my responsibility. I was told that it was all from medical treatments, and I had a few different options to clear up the bill including if I wanted to pay it all outright, they can work out a discount? I’m really confused and scared, have no credit established and no debt in any way. I’m also 24, a waitress, barely making enough for my rent. I don’t have the best relationship with any family so really have no means to support, emotionally or monetarily. I guess I’m just curious where to go from here …. Am I truly entitled to this debt or could it be disputed? I’m not really sure of my rights in the case of demanding seeing the bill in its entirety? Any and all timely advice is so appreciated. I was told I had until Thursday to decide options? Thank you again!

    • You really should be talking over the situation with an experienced consumer law attorney in Florida. Many will offer a no cost consultation to help you get your bearings on your rights and options. This can help tremendously in the decision making process for taking your next step.

      I can send you contact details for any attorneys I know of in the area with consumer law practices, just post the name of a nearby larger city, and I will email that to you.

      • Thank you very much! I live in Fort Myers, FL. I am trying to remain optimistic that I won’t forever be in debt for this simple act, and am merely being taken advantage of in some way. Your time is much appreciated!

  76. I have noticed the last few times when trying to deal with hospitals they REFUSE to offer any discount on procedudres and make me responsible for the full left over amount after Medicare pays. I had to have a outpatient surgery with the total bill being 800 . I called and spoke with the billing department to be told that I could set up a payment plan on the amount again without any discounts. They refuse to negotiate and the only number they use is the 800 and will not lower that amount. I have really bad credit cause I pay cash and have never owned a credit card, a mortgage, or a car loan. Their “payment” plan does nothing to help my credit and does not show anything to credit bureaus unless I default. What steps do I take to negotiate so that I can get at least a semblance of a discount. I even asked the billing department that I can pay this in full or you can wait the 18 months you are asking me to make payments or I could just pay it all but the hospital refuses to come off 800. Any ideas or suggestions is much appreciated.

    • Medical service providers, by contract, are often unable to discount services and procedures when a portion is covered by insurance. There is really nothing you can do or say to cause them to want to risk that relationship.

  77. Send the payment (use a money order) via certified mail return receipt directly to the anesthesiology office. If they refuse it bring it to court to show that you made a good faith effort to pay but they refused payment. If they do not take the payment and drop the suit I would fight them tooth and nail over this.

    I would also try sending a letter to the attorney stating they are seeking unjust enrichment. The anesthesiologist had a duty to mitigate their damages by determining the correct address which the hospital had far sooner than 2.5 years and still made NO effort to contact you for payment. I would also make a complaint to the Bar Association in your state because to refuse the reasonable settlement of what was owed is unethical. Immediately filing a lawsuit knowing they made billing errors for 2.5 years is unconscionable. If all else fails I would take the refused payment to court and fight to have the court ram it down their throat with no reimbursement for attorney fees or court costs for taking up the court’s time by refusing full payment after all their mistakes.

  78. I had my appendix removed in May 2014. When I went into the ER, I updated my address and phone number. I received all of my hospital bills, and have paid them in full. However, I did not receive the anesthesiologist bill. I didn’t even realize it was a separate bill until I was served court papers at the school where I am a teacher. The anesthesiology company was sending them to an address that we hadn’t lived at for 2 1/2 years. Once they found the correct address from the insurance company, they turned it over to collections. They never sent anything that I received, so the first notice was the summons. Now this lawyer wants me to pay over $500. The bill was only $166.80. I have offered to pay this in full to all parties, but no one will take the payment. The lawyer demands the $500+ to take care of this. What do I do???? I never got a bill!

  79. The opening date of the collection agency account is the date they got the account for collections. It does not re-age the statute of limitations for lawsuits or reporting. The date you had the procedure determines that. If it was December 2009 then they can no longer sue you under FL law that limits contract suits to 5 years.

    They can report until next year. You can attempt to get it removed however, legally they can report the debt until December 2016.

    • I am glad to know that the date of the collection opening does not reage the debt. So if the statue is up December 2016, and it is not removed, what would be the best course of action to take?

  80. Medical Bill on Credit Report, SOL with two states involved.

    I reside in Oklahoma and always have. I was visiting Florida in 2009 and had an in office medical procedure done. I gave insurance information day before and had her preauthorize it ( yes I know I should have called myself and ensured that it was done correctly). I had the procedure the next day, paid a co pay and left. I Never heard anything about a balance for over a year. Then one day the receptionist began calling stating I owed over $8,548.00. I obviously did not have this amount of money to pay so it became delinquent.

    This is now on my credit report with a opened date of December 18, 2013 and the agency is CAPITAL ACCT. I am not sure how to go about getting this removed from my credit report. I have never received any letters or phone calls from this creditor before. I am just wondering if the initial date would be 2009 or the opened date of December 2013. How do I know when it has been the seven years or has met the statute of limitations, so I can start trying to get it removed?

    Thanks so much for your help!

  81. 1) Let this one drop on its own. You can even dispute it as obsolete now. There is a chance this collection agency no longer has a business relationship with the provider and cannot validate and that gets it removed.

    2) IC Systems is a bottom feeder and you should NEVER pay them a cent. Contact the providers who gave you the care and offer a pay for delete directly to them. If they will not deal with you directly THEN offer a PFD to the collection agencies.

    3) Contact the hospital and offer to set up payment arrangements. If you used insurance on these bills they cannot discount them any further as that is illegal rebating. Otherwise knocking off the smallest ones one at a time might be faster.

    In the future it is always much easier to set up payment arrangements and make small monthly payments (which most providers will do) than to simply ignore it and let the bills go to collections.

  82. I’m trying to build my credit score up and currently have 11 medical bills in collections. They range from 2008 to 2013. I have several questions.
    1) One debt of $109 is scheduled to drop off my report in 09/2015, should I bother calling Amerifinacial Solutions to offer payment of $70?
    2) Two others are $136 w/ I C Systems and $250 w/ REC MGM Systems and not scheduled to drop off until 2017, should I call or send them a letter offering $80 and $150 respective?
    3) The remainder are with Equidata and for 8 different bills all from the same hospital , $1,713, $572, $128, $111, $172, $222, $239, $302. My question is that 60% of the total of all the bills is too costly for me to pay in one lump sum, so should call or write offer settlements on each bill separately?

    Besides, theses bills I have $18,000 in student loans and $1,400 on a department store credit card. I currently bring in $1,200/monthly and have 2 children.

    • I sent you an email with contact details to two consumer law attorneys in Tulsa. The area of consumer law each specializes in are similar, which is most anything to do with debt collection.

      If you have other needs than that, post a more specific outline of your situation.

  84. I would start by going to http://www.consumeradvocates.org and speaking to a consumer attorney. Depending on how that threat about the legal fess was worded it may be a violation of the FDCPA.

    How long ago was this debt? See if the hospital has charity care and find out why they didn’t automatically sign you up for Medicaid. If all that fails BK may be the best option.

  85. Hi,
    While in school I was taken to the hospital due to complications with diabetes. I did not have insurance, except for insurance through the school which I was told covered emergency visits. I was admitted through the ER and stayed about a week. When the bill came, the school insurance stated they could not cover the costs because they were a supplemental plan only. Now I am stuck with a bill for more than 16,000. I just recently graduated and found a job, but that’s more than a third of my yearly salary. Is there anything I can do outside of filing bankruptcy. I just recently started paying the cheaper of the two bills with $20 a month payments, its total is about 1,300. The plan was to pay that one and then tackle the larger one. But i received a letter from a layer stating that if I did not pay the 16,000 plus bill in full I would also be responsible for legal fees. I have no idea what to do. What can I do?!

  86. Hi Michael

    I have a $170 medical bill that I missed and then 3 month later transferred to a collection agency that they reported it as unpaid to my credit report under derogatory. I want to pay it but I need to remove “unpaid” note from my credit report. What kind of documents I need from the collection agency when I pay the amount , what should I ask them to do when I pay the amount to remove this note from credit report?

    I appreciate your response

    Regards
    Sal

    • You may not get it removed. What you should do is contact the provider of the care FIRST. Many times if you take a “gee I am so sorry I missed this let me pay it now” attitude they will not only take the payment (NEVER pay a collection agency if you can avoid it) but will get it deleted. Another option is that you dispute it as paid to the provider and therefore the CA has nothing to report. If they have a contract with the CA that once it is there you must deal with them then negotiate a PAY FOR DELETION. Some CAs have a policy against doing this in which case you have a paid collection which is better than unpaid. Make sure your settlement is in WRITING. ANY promise they make over the phone is not enforceable.

  87. ” I have received a lawyer letter today stating I have 30 days to respond to letter or will be sent a judgment.”

    You might want to consult a consumer lawyer. The statement that if you don’t pay they will send you a judgment is false and likely a violation of the FDCPA. In order to get a judgment they would first have to sue you. If you lost the case THEN they would get a judgment. However, they cannot just send you a judgment if you refuse to pay. Go to http://www.naca.net to find a consumer lawyer in your state. Most if not all do the first consultation for free.

    “Can I go to court without paying and be placed in jail?

    NO. The USA has never had debtor’s prisons. The worst it will do is mess up your credit and they can in most states garnish wages.

    “Are they trying to scare me?”

    YES. First call the hospital patient representative and explain your situation and ask about applying for charity care for being uninsured and low income. It may get the entire bill written off if not a substantial discount. If you have already been given a low income discount then I would arrange payments with the hospital NOT the lawyer.

  88. I have a medical bill from last year that totaled $2286 for a removal of a Kidney Stone. I did not have insurance and have not been able to pay the debt at all. I am really scraping by and now I have received a lawyer letter today stating I have 30 days to respond to letter or will be sent a judgment.

    It states to send the full amount to the office and if it is impossible to send the full amount, to contact them and mutually agree upon payment terms. It goes on stating this matter is becoming increasingly serious. Can I go to court without paying and be placed in jail?

    Are they trying to scare me?

    I have health insurance now and figured I can just not pay this as it went from an ER visit to having the procedure done that day.

    please help…

  89. I have a medical debt of $641 from last November which was referred to a collection attorney recently. I have been unable to work since January 3rd due to medical complications of pregnancy. I lost my job on July 31st due to exhaustion of FMLA. I have not yet been cleared to work, so my income is zero. I got a summons to court, called the attorney, and he offered me a stipulation. I said I could pay $400 now and $100 each month afterwards. He emails me the stipulation and it says I owe the original $641, $52 in interest, $250 in “costs” and $900 in attorney fees!!!! This is over $1800, 3 times what I owed. Right now, we are barely living paycheck to paycheck off my husband’s job, and we CANNOT afford to pay that! Can I call the original party to pay them the $641 plus $52 interest in full, or am I stuck bargaining with the attorney? I could only pay the $400 by borrowing money from my parents. I think it is exorbitant to charge $900 in attorney fees, and what are the “costs”? How do I go about negotiating this down?

    • Show up in court and challenge the fees, and what is reasonable with the judge.
      900 dollars for the collection attorney paralegal to fill in some paperwork, all in under an hour… show up at court on a day they were probably already gonna be there… does not add up to me either. It may to the judge, but then again it may not.

      Some courts do hold fair and reasonable costs and fees to a low bar with consumer debt collection cases.

      • Thank you for your reply. Prior to your reply, I called and they agreed to drop the attorney fees to $450. But I don’t feel that is reasonable either. And what does the $250 in “costs” cover? It all seems like they are trying to get as much extra as they can out of me.

        • That will be an amount the judge is likelier to agree with.

          Costs can include local court filing fees (can be a couple hundred some places), process server, and other smaller contributing factors. If you look up other similar collection cases in that courts records, you will likely find costs listed in initial filings of around the same amount.

  90. My husband is being sued for medical bills in indiana. We have been legally separated for 20 years. He has court tomorrow and the collection agency lawyer told me I have to be at court to provide my income. Can they do that? I’m not on the court papers for the suit and I have not been summons to court. Please help.

  91. I have a medical bill from a year and a half ago for $4200 for my knee surgery and unfortunately ignored it because i was already paying off another medical bill from an out of town trip accident. I just received a letter from the collection agency stating that if they don”t receive a full payment in 20 days then they will take this to the courts and issue a summons. I am not in a position to pay $4200 in one lump sum, what are my options?

  92. ” If I settle with the collections agency does this make me eligible to dispute this account?”

    Legally? No. The best way to get this removed is ask them to do a pay for delete. That means you agree in writing that once you pay the bill they agree to delete the trade line. You cannot force them to agree to do that and some creditors have a hard line policy against doing so. If you do not negotiate the deletion prior to payment it could appear on your report as simply a paid collection.

    Disputing is based upon errors and so far there is no factual basis for a dispute. Before doing anything else though I would ask the lender point blank that if you get this taken care of will the loan be approved. The last thing you want to do is pay it off to find out there was more than this issue causing the denial.

  93. I purchased a home before I met my husband. The home is in my name only. My husband had an accident this year and did not have any insurance. The bill is over $23,ooo. He has been making a payment on the bill monthly, but this past month they turned the bill into collections. Will this effect my credit score? and can they try to take my home from me? I was told by a friend that I I posted it publicly in news paper that I’m not responsible for my husbands bill. That may help me.

    • You will want to talk about your homes protection, from your husbands creditors,with an experienced debt defense attorney. I can help you find one if I knew the name of a larger city near you.

      I am not aware of any benefit you would receive from publishing a public statement about you not being responsible for your husbands debt.

      • Back in 09 I went to the ER without insurance and my medical bill was $1611 and went to the collections agency in 2011. I’m currently just out of college and looking to refinance my loan through a different vendor for lower interest rates and payments but was declined because of this bill that is currently in the collections agency. If I settle with the collections agency does this make me eligible to dispute this account? If so, can you give me advice on the negotiation process for this amount.

        Thanks,
        Ben

  94. Lets start at the beginning. Before you assume this is a valid collection attempt get on the website for your local court and do a search for your full name. See if a lawsuit has been filed against you. If your small claims court docket is not on line you can either call the court clerk or go to the court house. Sometimes the docket number is mistakenly omitted and sometimes it is an attempt to scare you into paying. If no case has been filed this changes the game. You do need to answer the suit and you do need to show up. If you were properly served and you don’t go to the court hearings they will get a default judgment.

    The other phone calls are likely unrelated to the suit and a scam. It is a coincidence that they came at the same time. It is possible the scammers phished your name from the court dockets and are looking to cash in. Deal ONLY with the court and the attorney’s office directly. They will not call you from “RESTRICTED” or “UNKNOWN” numbers.

    The phone calls from the collection agency MIGHT be a violation of the TCPA but you would need to discuss this with a consumer attorney to be certain. They are not a violation of the FCDPA. IF you have more questions post back.

  95. I received a summons for a Medical Debt. The plaintiff is a collections agency. The debt to the hospital was incurred in April of 2013. There is a $200 and a $600, with $92 interest amount that are included. First, the summons states that all attorney’s fees and docket fees are included, but there is just the total plus interest listed. When calling to find out if there was any way to set up a plan and see if they would drop the suit, they refused and said that the current amount is $1399 and $200-$300 more would be added. Also there is no case number on the paperwork. Is this normal?
    I do need to file an answer, and am considering filing against them for the collection practices. There have been a few instances of 4 calls within 1-2 min to my work number, followed immediately by 3-4 calls to my cell number. Though caller id just shows ‘restricted’. And messages about ‘we are going to come to your work and home, and you don’t want that’ But mainly, when I called asking about the summons, the agent told me that ‘most people are worried about having to take off work and show up at court, but don’t worry about it, you don’t have to go’. Is this just unethical? Or actually illegal to discourage me from showing up?

  96. I just recently found out my credit card balance was sold to Cach. We have fallen behind on payments due to my husbands lack of work. His industry has been very slow and he has been out of work at least 6 months in the past year and a half. Our debt collectively is around 70k. I am assuming I will be served shortly by Cach and am wondering if I would be a candidate for bankruptcy. Do you know any bankruptcy lawyers in the Ronkonkoma NY area? I am wondering if that is the avenue I should choose before I am served. The min payments are just out of reach for us now and I have no idea which way to turn.

    • You can call 877-278-8117 and reach a bankruptcy professional in your area. With 70k in debts, and no stable income, chapter 7 bankruptcy will help you discharge those debts, and get a fresh start.

  97. In Colorado judgments are good for 6 years from the date it is entered by the court and renewable in 6 year increments after that. The courts do not report judgments to the credit bureaus. The bureaus have web crawling search programs that comb the public records for judgments, liens, and tax records. However, if you move and remove the address associated with the judgment the search programs cannot connect it to you specifically.

    It is not uncommon in medical debt for the CA that the provider hires to report the debt but not the provider themselves. This is because it is very expensive to belong to the bureaus to report. Collection agencies belong in order to increase their leverage in collecting.

    You will not reset any clock by contacting them to settle this account.

  98. Since the state seems to matter, I’ll start with the fact that I live in Colorado. Back in Oct 2010 I had emergency gall bladder surgery and ended up with an out of network surgeon, who was in an in network hospital. For some reason his billing company didn’t submit till sometime in early Feb and by that time the max payout had been hit. So the insurance co refused to pay anything and the doctors billing co refused to offer any kind of discount at all because I was insured. Tried everything up till they took me to court in April of 2011. Everyone I talked to was shocked that they took forever to bill and then took me to court so fast. Anyway, the morning of the court date, I offered them 50% of the bill in cash and they refused. They said if I had offered it sooner then they would have considered it. Mind you, I did offer them that previously and they said no. So we proceeded, the judge was kind and on my side but said that the law was the law and they got a judgement for just under 4K.
    So I checked my credit report last week and the collection is there with the dr office as the original creditor and the collections agency as the current reporting agent, but there are no public records. I don’t see the lien, just the collection. I tried looking the lien up on the county clerks site and nothing comes up, ever. I know it was there are some point but I have no idea what happened to it. Is a collection account the same as a lien now?
    Not sure what to do about any of that but I was wondering if I should try to negotiate again. If there is a lien on the house, they are going to be waiting a long time as I don’t plan on ever moving or selling. The debt has grown with interest and went from just shy of 4K to about 5.5K so it seems like I should do something about it. I haven’t contacted anyone because I don’t want to start clocks moving again. Do you have any suggestions?

  99. I received a justice court summons for a medical bill in the amount of $689.69. It states unless I want to contest it I do not have to appear in court, which I don’t what are some of the options I have to pay this debt if any.

  100. The CA is illegally adding interest because you are not contractually obligated to pay one red cent more than what the insurance carrier states. It is NOT a HIPAA violation to report medical debt so while you could dispute it after you pay it is likely to end up a paid collection.
    It is ALWAYS better to pay the provider than their CA. The provider is also wrong that it is your responsibility to deal with the CA. Pay the provider and then write a terse letter to the CA stating that you refuse to pay their illegally added interest. The debt is no longer valid because you paid the provider and if they do not cease collections and delete the trade line you will pursue a FCDPA claim. Watch how quickly they move to delete. If they do not delete it then dispute with the credit bureaus as paid to original creditor.

  101. Hello, I have a question.. My husband has 2 outstanding medical bill with a balance of a little under 5k and with interest the balance is 7,500. The collection agency isn’t willing to do a payment plan but will only knock off $600 if paid within 2 weeks, no more settlements after that. I called the hospital and was told that I can pay the hospital the $4500.00 balance in full but it would be my responsibility to deal with the ca. I have hard that if the hospital is willing to deal with you, you can pay them their debt and dispute the rest with the credit bureau. Is that true? What are my other options? We are trying to purchase a home and the lender requires that either the debt is paid or we go on a payment plan. $2500 is a lot of interest so we would like to avoid it. Also the ca will absolutely not do a PFD!

  102. I received a summons on a $1500 medical debt. Immediately I went to that same hospital where my services were received and paid the bill in full, this was on June 17th. Nearly 2 months later I am sent an order of wage garnishment, claiming I owe approximately $1700. The judgement date is July 17th, the creditor is listed as the “hospital”, and estimated court costs is $36. Anyhow, I take my receipts and cashiers check and march into the hospital. The lady in “Finance” tells me I am “clean and clear” with them. I am told to call the attorneys office listed on the garnishment order. I call the attorney for a lengthy, emotional conversation in which he tells me that the debt is through the hospital and what I owe him is so minute, he’d be willing to drop it. I march right back into the hospital (I had called the attorney from the parking garage) where I am assured that I have cleared my debt with them. My next phone conversation with the lawyer is not the same as the first. He tells me about the fees of the collection agency, court costs, automatic withdrawals, money, money, money, and I understand NONE of it. I don’t know what to do. Considering I paid the bill prior to the judgement date, I wonder how “court costs” could even apply. Also, if I owe the hospital nothing at this point, why are they listed as the creditor? If its the collection agency and the lawyer that I owe, shouldn’t they be listed as the creditor? I work full-time as a teachers assistant, I make (after all deductions) about $750 a month. I understand that this poverty level income pretty much assures that they will not succeed at garnishing my wages, but that’s beside the point. I will pay off this debt if it proves to be legitimate, I just feel like I’m being ripped. Any thoughts?

    • If it were me, I would start with taking necessary steps to contest the garnishment formally with the court. The notice of garnishment you were given may contain the instructions for doing that. If not, call the court clerk tomorrow and ask how to begin that process.

      Next I would contact a consumer law attorney familiar with debt collection defense. Most offer an initial consult at no cost. I would explain what you did and why, and that you did not know you needed to do anything else than pay. You want to know what options there are for vacating or setting aside the judgment so that your credit report is not hammered by this. It may be worth paying the consumer law attorney to manage things from here if you have credit and financing goals in the next 24 to 36 months.

      What is the name of the wonderful attorney that is doing the 180 from kindness and understanding to asshole-ish-ness?

      • Is there anyway you could inbox me or vice versa so I could tell you privately? I would just hate for my public reply to have repercussion and with my luck it is very possible. At the same time, I appreciate any and all advice you have to give considering how uneducated I am on the subject. My e-mail address was requested before typing my comment, if you have access to it.

        • Sure, just email the address you get these comment notifications from with the attorneys name, and also the name of a larger city close to you so I can email back some resources for you to check out.

      • By the way, I plan to continue my college education next semester (completed my online application yesterday) and want to buy a home sometime soon. A good credit score is detrimental and I’ve really been working at paying all my debts for that exact reason.

  103. Hi, After a recent 2 night stay in the hospital, I received a bill for $3,000. My husband completed all the necessary paperwork naming himself as the responsible party for the charges. When the bill arrived it was in my name. I was informed after calling the hospital that if the patient is over 18 , they are responsible. Is this true? Also I offered a payment $30 less than required,they refused so I would like to know how they can ruin your credit when you are willing to pay. It seems that all calls go to a call center so how do I go about talking to someone who could resolve this. DEBORAH

    • You are the adult contracting for treatment and services. The bills should come in your name. Your husband can still take responsibility for the bill.

      Is the extra 30 dollars for the payment completely out of your reach to pay?

      Medical debts in collection can end up on your credit reports. They are fast becoming less damaging to your credit than a variety of other late pays and collections, but will still carry a little punch. Is this already showing in your credit reports? By what agency?

      • They can sue and get a judgment for the debt. That can result in a lien against real property, and other extra ordinary collection methods as they may apply in your state.

        Are there other debts you are struggling with besides this one? How much in credit card balances are you carrying between you both?

    • Many hospitals will write down, or write off, a certain amount of services they deliver. Call the hospital and find out what your options may be in this regard. Be up front about your finances. Request any documentation they can send to you, or that they publish on a web site.

      Post what you learn and lets go from there.

  105. I wrote this original question some time ago. I had come across debt collection websites that gave one tips for dealing with these people. The first thing many of them said, is to verify the debt. I called the people with whom the debt originally originated from. They claimed that my debt was not covered; although the financial aid office at my local hospital said it was. A helpful lady with the debtor then said that it was because none of the numbers she was given applied to the day that concerned the debt. She asked me to send a letter from the hospital with the coverage numbers, and fax it to her. (I had previously faxed such a letter to the collection agency, a large Louisiana collection agency, but it had no coverage numbers.) I then spoke on the phone with the lady from the hospital, to see what numbers applied to which days. I wrote dates next to the coverage numbers, and drew little lines from the numbers to the dates. I then faxed this off. I never heard from them again, and have had no further problems. I assume they were incorrectly understanding what date the coverage numbers covered. Thanks for offering your advice, even so.

  106. Hello,
    While my wife and i were out of state in April 2013 she had a medical emergency and was taken to the hospital. She stayed the night in ICU and the bill was 8700.00. We are in no position to pay that kind of money and the hospital would not work with us on setting up a payment plan. They said the best they could do is 800 a month which is not something we can afford. Today my wife got an automated letter from an attorneys office that says they may proceed with suit against her. Can they garnish her wages or put a lein on her bank account ? Since we are married can they do anything to me ? What further legal action can they take ? And lastly, do you have any reccomendations ?

    • Did you receive the treatment or service back then, and later make a payment on the bill? What state are you in? Is there a collections account showing on your credit report related to this debt?

  108. I have a medical bill that I was paying on that was turned over to a collection service. I don’t know that they agreed to $50 a month but that is what I have paid them. I owe $1150 and I have paid $650 this year through my bill pay. I called in October to find out my balance and they told me I owed $600, they thanked me for paying my bill every month and I updated all my information. I have never disputed the debt and the fact that I need to pay it. November came and I forgot to pay but I payed them on 12/2/2013 for November and then again on 12/6/2013. When I started receiving crazy mail from lawyers I called them and they said I had not paid since October so they sued. I have documentation that I paid through my bank. Today I received my summons what do I do?

  109. I am a 20 year old single mother , I make barely enough to get from paycheck to paycheck. I have about 1600 medical bills in collection I am currently being sued for $800 of that . I offered to pay payments with the collectors but they declined and said they were referring this to a lawyer of there office. I just got te summons not but a week ago , how do I go about setting up payments ? Or what is the court process like for these things ? What will happen? I cannot afford a lot a month and I am freaking out I do not have any idea of what to do .. Please help me !

    • Jasmine – In order to resolve the medical debt you are now being sued to collect, you would look to either settle for a lump sum, or set up monthly payments. If you cannot afford a lump sum, and the payments you offered already were too low, you may be able to get an affordable payment set up through the court process. This is not a great position to be in, as you would most likely end up with a consent to judgment, or one entered in the court by default if you do not participate. But their are limits to what a debt collector can force you to pay if they get a court judgment. These limits are state specific. If you cannot get the collector to agree to something by working with you directly, the court can actually be helpful.

      What state are you in?

  110. My husband recently got a letter stating that he was being sued by an attorney’s office for an outstanding doctor bill from a year ago. The total is $1300.00. He called them to get more detail and they stated that he’d need to begin making a payment of $300/mo within 15 days and asked to see a copy of his current bills- which he provided. They came back saying that the $300 is fair. He has tried to negotiate with them offering them a settlement of $700.00 up front that he’d borrow and pay back to a family member as the $300 monthly payment is just not viable for our family right now. (I am not sure what bills he provided to them and if it included things such as daycare, etc). He called again and asked them to extend that amount out to after the first of the year as he doesnt have that cash right now and it would buy us more time to figure out how to better fight this. They gave him an additional 5 days. What can we do? Will a lawyer settle with you? If we took the chance and appeared in court and fought this, is it worth our time? Would we then be responsible for court fees? Help! (We live in Wisconsin)
    How can we negotiate the charges down to settle for a lesser amount? If we go to court, are there more fees that we could be responsible for? Is it legal for a lawyer to ask to see your “bills” to determine a payment amount?

    • Megan – Negotiating a lower pay off on medical bills, even when sued and with an attorney, is possible (but not always). In order to have a shot at settling at this late stage of collection (being sued), you will often need to have a lump sum ready to pay, and in an amount that they will accept. If you can tap the resources, you may succeed by offering a few hundred more. If that is not an option, it leaves the discussion to affordable payments. If 300.00 is not something you can manage, and they are not going to bend, you may be able to establish a payment you can afford by participating in the court process.

      You could file an answer to the complaint denying the claims made in order to extend this out so that you can save up, or access more money to settle in a lump sum.

      It is somewhat typical for an attorney to ask for docs to substantiate a hardship or inability to pay, or pay much. Whether or not you should ever offer up that kind of detail is a different story. If the details do not support your inability to pay, than giving details is rarely in your best interest.

      There may be additional costs due to the court action, and how you choose to proceed.

      Are there other debts besides this one that remain unpaid?

      • Thank you so much for your advice. We do have other unpaid medical debt that we are working on establishing payment plans on. We also have other debt in general. I think we are going to go forward and try to settle for more to try to avoid any court action. If they wont accept that, we will have to start making payments. Thank you, again!

  111. I have a total of $1256 Medical bills from my 1st 2 years of college that have gone into collection. The collection agency use to call my but i always hung the phone up. Flash now 3 years later and i can not get approved for a credit card because of the negative score of the collection i have about $700 save in order to pay the bills but the collection agency hasn’t contacted me in a while, so i do not know what the best way to deal with this situation is? I would like to know is it better to settle on an amount and pay it and whats the best and fastest way to pay the overdue accounts and get the negative collections remove from my credit score

    • Igor – It is unlikely you would be able to pay and get the medical collection debt removed from your credit report. You can get them either paid, or settled, so that they show a zero balance owed on your credit. That can help you accomplish you goal of obtaining new credit over a fairly short period of time.

      How many different collection items are appearing your credit report?
      What are the names of the companies collecting on the medical bills? Are those companies different than who is reporting on your credit?

      • I have 7 in collections 4 of which are with the same company. The companies are NCO (4), Merchants and Med credit, UCB and UN COLL TOL on the report and is it better to pay in full or settle whats better for credit score?

        • Igor – When accounts go unpaid for an extended period, and to the point debt collectors are showing on your credit report, you will generally not see much difference (if any) between settling these medical debts for less than what is owed, or paying them off in full. The key is getting these collections to show there is no longer a balance owed, and settling accomplishes that too. But be sure to get everything you negotiate in writing, or pay off letters, when you resolve the bills.

          I would start with calling NCO and let them know that you are not in great shape financially, but are trying to come up with a plan to get back on your feet. You are wondering what these debts can be settled for, and if it is affordable, you will try to pool together the money. Here is a post with some additional details about dealing with debt a collector.

          How old are these debts?

  112. I have an unpaid hospital bill for $353.42. The bill was when I went a year ago. The bill finally went into collection and do not know how to handle it. The collection agency has sent me a letter stating that the claim has been placed with their firm, and that I may contact the office during their hours. The state in the letter that they want the amount paid in full. I want to pay in one lump some but I can’t afford that much. I would like to send them a letter negotiating a different amount, but I don’t know what to offer. I have recently became unemployed and have very little money. HELP!!!

    • Kelsey – By firm do you mean attorney, or a collection company? What amount can you afford to offer in a single payment settle the bill? What amount could you confidently agree to as a monthly payment?

      Hospitals will often fully write off a certain amount of services each year. Many will limit this to patients based on income (lack of). Being unemployed now may qualify you, where you couldn’t before. Did you look into this? If not, call the hospital billing department and ask about any options.

      • By firm, I mean collection company. The amount I can offer in a single payment to settle the bill is $130.
        On that note, I have called the hospital asking for help with this bill. When I spoke to someone, they told me that there was nothing they could do and that “it was out of their hands.” The hospital told me that it was too late to try to qualify for any help.

        • It would be good to know if they sold the debt at this point, or simply placed it for collection. Debt collectors who are working for the original service provider may be less flexible, where companies that buy up unpaid medical bills can be more flexible in what they accept as a pay off (but not always). In any event, 130.00 is probably too small a settlement offer. Can you add to that over the course of a month or two?

          Sending in a letter is not the best way to approach your negotiations. Phone calls are the most productive. You can call them and let them know you are in an extreme hardship, and have no income, and ask what options are on the table. Then just listen. Collectors are trained to try and get a payment, or a commitment to pay, on every phone call, so be prepared for that. Let them know you are calling for information and options at this point. You may learn that there are affordable options, or they may just stick to a pay up mentality. Either way, communicating the hardship you are in can help set the stage for a settlement and payment options in follow calls.

  113. I am being sued for medical bill. I filed my answer stating that I was not presented in the summons and complaint with full account information and I’m not sure what this debt was for (had many hospital visits/procedures) I received letter from lawyer providing all account information along with Motion for Summary Disposition that will be filed if I don’t sign to the Consent Judgment ($50 per month on original debt plus interest, fees and etc.) The reason for this debt not being paid was that my spouse’s ex-employer was to cover these, they offered a perk of paying any deductible cost over $500 as individual /$1000 family (I have enrollment form stating such), but they didn’t pay these and when inquired about it, they said they no longer offered the perk and it was a mistake on the enrollment form(this was after spouse no longer worked for them). I received a court hearing date and I wanted to plea my case, but this motion order has me confused. Do I have to respond? Can I just go to court on Tuesday and explain with the judge? I understand I owe but perhaps lower the amount due or better payment arrangement (no extra fees, interest tackled) then what the lawyer is requesting. HELP!

    • Anna – How much is the medical bill? Have you talked with an attorney about your situation? Who came up with that 50.00 monthly amount in the consent? Was this amount based on discussions you had with the attorney suing?

      You should absolutely appear for the hearing. You have real arguments, but are up against the wall on time. Depending on the amounts involved, the economy of how much time and money you dedicate to fighting this will change.

      • The bill is for $1200, well with the attorney fee’s, interest, filing fees tackle on, the consent judgment is now up to $1400. I have not talked to an attorney cause it would cost me more than the amount of the debt. I filed my answer, got the court date and was hoping to plea my case in front of the judge, but this recent papers from lawyer have me concerned. The consent judgment was written up by the law firm, I have not had a direct discussion with the lawyer. He left a message for me to call back, but we’ve been playing phone tag and I have to decide if tomorrow I sign the consent and move on, or figure out how to stop the motion (new to this court process)

    • Doris – Start with the advocacy outlet tomorrow. I normally do not suggest going into too much detail with collectors, but this is a different situation with little time. Your son will need to give them authorization to speak with you. He can do that over the phone quicker than sending in a written form which creates delays. Explain the issue and this preventing him from entering his first semester of law school etc. Post an update with what happens after that.

      Right away I would have your son right down what took place and was said during each prior call. Also what dates and approximate times those calls took place.

  115. Thank you so much for your timely response.
    1) The debts are legit, my son said he had received a letter from Merchants Association in the past. When he pulled up his credit report he saw medical bills and went to the letter. When he contacted them he was told that it was now with Allied Interstate.

    2) The original Debt was incurred with Tallahassee Memorial Hospital

    3) When my son asked to make a settlement payment they said they weren’t able to do that since it was with TMH. (I was under the understanding that once a collection agency bought a account it was no longer paying off the original creditor)

    4) I have not called them yet, I plan to do that tomorrow.

    I also checked Allied Interstates website and they have a advocacy hotline. I don’t know if I should call them first. I haven’t got a problem with us paying off this debt, we paid off the first and plan on paying off the second in just a few months. They are now refusing to give us a paid in full for the first bill unless we pay off the entire amounts.

    Not sure where to go from here,
    Thank you,
    Doris

  116. Hi Michael,

    My son has graduated from FSU and has been accepted into Stetson Law. When he applied for a student loan he was denied and told that he had outstanding debts on his credit history that he needed to resolve. These were medical bills that weren’t covered by his insurance. The first collection agency he contacted (MAF Services) told him the total due and he paid it. They sent him a paid in full letter immediately. The second collection agency (Allied Interstate) he contacted to pay off a debt, informed him he had a second debt also. The total went from owing $800 to $1800. He arranged to pay a payment plan, which they sent him a letter stating and he gave them his banking info to have monthly payments taking out each month. He contacted the college and they told him he had to pay that down before he could get his loan. My son called the creditor back and told them he would pay off one loan and make installments on the second. He told them he would need a pay off letter for the first and a letter stating he was making installments on the second. Benjamin paid $1100 on his Visa Debit card. He has been calling every day to get the letter and they kept telling him another dept. handles that. Today he finally got through and was informed that he could not get the paid in full letter untill the other bill was paid and then it would be 14 days from then. This is not the agreement we had. Unfortunately it was a “verbal” agreement. My son is supposed to start law school August 18th and we are still trying to finalize the loan. I don’t have the money to pay the other bill in full. I have just paid out $1100 and we have nothing to show for it. I have no documentation even stating that the money wen to pay on a bill. Can they refuse to give me a “statement” showing that the money was applied to a bill and has a -0- balance now. I need to get on the phone and try to resolve this for him. They are giving him the run around. CanI leverage the fact that payment was made with a Visa Debit card and I have the right to dispute payment if I don’t receive the documentation that we were promised. Please help me with this, we are running out of time for my son to be able to get his loan. Thank you so much,
    Doris

    • Doris – Yes, you could potentially dispute the debit card charge, but that may complicate things further. Just to clarify:

      One known medical debt at the time of first call was for 800.00.
      A second debt materialized with Allied from the same hospital stay/health service situation, and the balance was 1000.00?
      A total of 1100.00 was paid so far.
      There remains an amount of 700.00 unpaid out of the total 1800.00 owed?

      Are the debts recognizable to your son (tied in with the specific medical treatments or office visits)?
      When were the debts created?
      Can you verify who allied is collecting for?
      You have called Allied on behalf of your son, or you have not?

      It is not that they can refuse to provide an accounting of the payments or a letter outlining what has transpired. Given the situation, this was handled a little backwards. The letter outlining the terms comes before payment. That would allow your son to show the letter and the bank statement showing the progress that has been made, and the letter would have shown the additional payment dates etc.

      Please answer the above questions in a comment reply and lets go from there. I will have some additional feedback and advice to pursue.

  117. Hello Michael,

    I landed in the ER a while back while I was only working 25 hours a week making nearly minimum wage. My wife had just lost her job and there was no way we could pay the bill let alone the ambulance bill. I received something from the court, went and paid a fee to include my response and I recently received a Stipulation and Judgment (sent by the collection agency) from the Justice Court of my town and it has a case # included. When I enter the case and/or my name, it states that no records are found. Is just a threat or what?

    If I could negotiate a lesser amount I could possibly try to borrow from family. They tacked on court costs and lawyer fees and now I owe about $1,700 and they want $40 payments every month. I have to sign the document and return it or the offer will no longer stand. I can’t afford $40 plus what I am paying for the ambulance. I have three kids and can barely make rent! 🙁 Any advice you may offer would be appreciated.

    Thank You!
    Mark

    • First make a call to the court and verify with the clerk that the case is indeed filed and active. Your reference to not being able to look it up is a bit odd, unless you are in a “hip pocket” state like Minnesota. What state are you in?

      It becomes difficult to settle medical debt when it is already in the court. Instead of being able to deal directly with the service provider, or even their billing service provider, you are now dealing with a collection agency, and an attorney at that. They fairly void of compassion when collecting debt.

      Settling this, if it is indeed in the courts, may mean targeting 7o to 80 percent of the balance. If you do have family willing to help, it is a reasonable direction to take. Short of that, you have limited income and ability to pay. Even with the judgment, you may be exempt from garnishment in your state. Your bank account could be levied with a judgment in place, so that is a huge concern.

      Call the court and verify, then post an update here. Also include the attorney collection agency you are dealing with on the medical bills.

      What is the amount you are paying toward the ambulance bill? How did you arrive at that agreed payment with them (was it fairly painless)?

      • Michael,
        I am in dire straights. The ONLY overdue debts I have are medical, and University of Colorado has just filed a lawsuit to obtain ~$3877 from me. The thing that baffles me is that the primary amount I’m being sued for is for an automobile accident for which I was not at fault, and the other driver was uninsured. Moreover, I have chronic spine injuries and require bi-weekly antibody infusions due to my own cells failing to produce their own. Because of those expenses, I had met all deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums in January of that year. The accident was in June. The person delivering the notice had a badge, but I was rather flustered and failed to request the number and take a closer look at it. The officer also did not have me sign for the document. There is no way in the world I can pay these bills. A serious bicycle accident in 2011 left me with 9 spine fractures to my upper back and neck, requiring 4 surgeries to fuse 10 levels. I was denied disability sight unseen, which has forced me to work, even when in extreme pain or illness. Please. I desperately need someone’s help, but have nothing I can pay. All money earned goes toward my living expenses and my service dog in training. I don’t know what to do. The bill SHOULD have been paid for by the insurance I had at the time, with its out of pocket max and deductibles maxed out, making everything covered 100%.

        I hope you have some ideas for me. Thanks.

        • Is the University of Colorado the named plaintiff in the lawsuit?
          Have fully hammered things out with the insurance company?

          Have you spoken with an experienced disability insurance attorney?